
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
AT LOS ANGELES 





MUSICAL 
REMINISCENCES 

AND IMPRESSIONS 



BY 

JOHN FRANCIS BARNETT 



ILLUSTRATED 



B. W. DODGE & CO. 
NEW YORK 



PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND 

WILLIAM HRENDON AND SON, LIMITKI' 
PRINTERS 



MUSIC 
LIBRARY 



v\o 



TO 

JOHN NORBURY, ESQ. 

THESE REMINISCENCES ARE DEDICATED 

WITH EVERY MARK OF ESTEEM 

AND AFFECTION 



212140 



PREFACE 

"YTTHEN I sat down to write my reminiscences, 
I did so with some misgivings as to whether 
I had materials of sufficient interest at my disposal. 
I had not, however, written many pages, before I 
began to live again in the past. Incidents which 
I had almost forgotten came before me as vividly 
as if they had occurred but yesterday. I saw, in 
imagination, the faces and figures of musicians, the 
lives and doings of whom the younger generations 
read as matters of musical history. For me, 
whilst penning my recollections, these musicians of 
the past were just as present as they were years ago 
when I was holding converse with them, or when 
I saw them at the festival or concert in which they 
were taking part. Some of these celebrities still 
live in their works, and are thus in a manner present 
amongst us ; but the great singers and the world- 
famed executants I have written about are, for the 
most part, but a name to those who have not had 
the privilege, as I had, of hearing them. The voice 
of many a celebrated singer of bygone days still 
rings in my ears, although now for ever mute. I 



vi PREFACE 

seem again to hear the silvery tones of some great 
violinist, of whom the only relic that remains to us 
is the violin he loved so well. Or I am excited 
once more, when I listen in imagination to the 
brilliant feats of bravura-playing of some grand 
pianist whose agile fingers touched their last chord 
so long ago. In not a few cases I have ventured 
to record the impression produced upon me by 
musical works and their exponents ; and as I have, 
during the earlier part of my life, lived in times 
when the tastes in such matters were, to a 
great extent, at variance with those of the pre- 
sent age, I am thus able to compare notes as 
to the past and present state of musical feel- 
ing in this country. If, in these reminiscences, 
I have sometimes been able to throw light on 
bygone events in the musical world, or to pic- 
ture others, with which I have been personally 
connected, in such a manner as to awaken interest 
in those who love the art of music, I shall feel 
amply rewarded for the time and trouble I have 
given to writing them, even if the reproduction is 
faint in effect, or the words in which I have 
endeavoured to clothe my descriptions fall short of 
what my memory has set before me. 



CONTENTS 

PREFACE ........ 

INTRODUCTION ......... xiii 

CHAPTER I 
BOYHOOD KING'S SCHOLAR 



CHAPTER II 
A VOCAL INTERLUDE MY DBUT THE ORGAN LOFT . 9 

CHAPTER III 

BOULOGNE AND DOUGLAS JERROLD ..... 23 

CHAPTER IV 
STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC ...... 32 

CHAPTER V 

THE SCHILLER FESTIVAL SAXON SWITZERLAND LAST DAYS 

AT LEIPSIC ....... ^ 53 

CHAPTER VI 

REAPPEARANCE IN ENGLAND THE PHILHARMONIC AND MY 

FIRST CONCERT ........ 63 

CHAPTER VII 
"THE ANCIENT MARINER" ...... 73 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VIII 

PAGE 

AMONG THE CHORAL SOCIETIES ...... 87 

CHAPTER IX 
"PARADISE AND THE PERI" .... .91 

CHAPTER X 

"THE GOOD SHEPHERD" AND FIRST ORCHESTRAL SUITE . 104 

CHAPTER XI 
"THE RAISING OF LAZARUS" 109 

CHAPTER XII 

CHAMBER Music JANSA AND BEETHOVEN THE LESLIE 

CHOIR 118 

CHAPTER XIII 
OVERTURE TO "A WINTER'S TALE". . . . .134 

CHAPTER XIV 
BENNETT'S CONCERTO AN OLD CONCERT PROGRAMME . 139 

CHAPTER XV 

As TEACHER PROFESSORS OF THE PAST . . . .146 

CHAPTER XVI 

A NEW MUSIC-SCHOOL CONDUCTORS AND PERFORMERS . 160 

CHAPTER XVII 
THE NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL 171 

CHAPTER XVIII 
THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF Music . . .177 



CONTENTS ix 

CHAPTER XIX 

PAGE 

THE ASSOCIATED BOARD . . . . . . .185 

CHAPTER XX 

THE GUILDHALL SCHOOL Music IN ALDERMANBURY . .192 

CHAPTER XXI 

THE GUILDHALL SCHOOL ITS EARLY HISTORY . . 201 

CHAPTER XXII 
THE GUILDHALL SCHOOL THE NEW BUILDING . . 205 

CHAPTER XXIII 
THE GUILDHALL SCHOOL "ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS" . 209 

CHAPTER XXIV 
WELSH HOLIDAYS SNOWDON 220 

CHAPTER XXV 

WELSH HOLIDAYS A FLOOD 228 

CHAPTER XXVI 

WELSH HOLIDAYS Music O'ER THE LAKE TRESPASSERS 

AN AWKWARD DESCENT 234 

CHAPTER XXVII 

CHEPSTOW A RUSTIC CEREMONY ASTRAY ! MEETING IN 

THE FARMHOUSE 241 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

A CHAPTER OF ANECDOTES 253 



x CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XXIX 

PAGE 

CELEBRITIES OF THE PAST MUSICAL "AT HOMES" . 

CHAPTER XXX 

THE TOY SYMPHONY : LEIPSIC AND LONDON "THE BUILD- 
ING OF THE SHIP " 

CHAPTER XXXI 
"THE WISHING BELL" .... .297 

CHAPTER XXXII 

Music OF THE PAST: A RESUM^ .... . 300 

CHAPTER XXXIII 

THE SKETCH SYMPHONY (SCHUBERT'S) . .312 

CHAPTER XXXIV 

CONCLUDING REMARKS 

INDEX . . . . . . 337 



INTRODUCTION 

TTTE have, as a rule, but little knowledge of the 
history of our forefathers who lived two or 
three generations ago. Their lives are, as it were, 
surrounded by a halo of mystery. It is therefore 
only natural for our curiosity to be roused, should 
we perchance hear anything that would throw light 
upon their mode of life, or that would tell us what 
their occupations were, whether they devoted them- 
selves to art, or to science, or to the busy routine of 
commerce. 

Any information of this kind, in regard to my 
predecessors, cannot, of course, be included in my 
reminiscences ; but perhaps I may be pardoned if 
I record a few details concerning my family history 
that were told to me by my father and mother. 
These details are very fragmentary, but such as 
they are I will repeat them. 

My grandfather on my father's side, who was a 
diamond merchant, was by birth a Prussian, and his 
wife a Hungarian. His name was Bernhart Beer, 
but on his settling in England he changed his sur- 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

name to Barnett, which the family has ever since 
retained. 

It is said, on good authority, that he was related 
to Meyerbeer. This does not seem improbable, as 
that composer's family name was, likewise, origin- 
ally Beer, the Meyer having been subsequently pre- 
fixed to it. 

My grandfather had three sons : John, the com- 
poser of the "Mountain Sylph"; the second son 
being Joseph Alfred, who was my father ; and 
another son, Zaraeh, who was a dramatic writer, 
and who wrote some of the libretti of my uncle 
John's operas. 

It appears that nly grandfather lost his wife 
whilst my father was a child, and that in conse- 
quence of this bereavement he seemed to lose his 
interest in commercial matters, and therefore found 
it necessary to take in a partner, who, managing 
the business badly, brought about the failure of the 
concern. 

This caused my grandfather's income to become 
so reduced that he was unable to give my father a 
good musical education ; otherwise, I am of opinion 
that my father would have been a composer who 
would have made his mark, for he had unmistak- 
able talent, but unfortunately no proper cultivation. 

On my mother's side I am able to trace two 
branches of her progenitors. 



INTRODUCTION xv 

Her grandfather on her father's side was the 
inventor of a system of printing on calico, of the 
name of Cornelius Hudson, who had large works 
at Old Ford, near Bow; a water-colour drawing of 
his manufactory, painted by William Varley, a 
brother of the celebrated artist, John Varley, being 
in our possession. 

From all I have heard, it is evident that Cor- 
nelius Hudson was a very ingenious mechanician. 
For his amusement he made a chamber-organ, 
every detail being his own workmanship. He 
likewise constructed an orrery. Both these speci- 
mens of ingenuity were, unfortunately, sold after 
his death, so that his descendants, myself among 
the number, never had an opportunity of seeing 
them. But I am glad to say that we have a beau- 
tiful miniature of him executed by one of his 
sons, William Hudson, who was my grandfather, 
and who was a miniature-painter by profession. 

This William Hudson married a daughter of a 
widow lady, Mrs. Maltby, who was the owner of 
a financial newspaper called " The Price Current," 
which at one time had a large sale, and was prob- 
ably the first financial newspaper ever published. 

I have at home a very fine portrait, life size, of 
this Mrs. Maltby, my great-grandmother, which 
Sir John Tenniel, when he was once at my house, 
admired greatly. This portrait is by a Royal 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

Academician of the period. I may add that some 
years ago I was much interested in coming across 
a diary of my great-grandmother, in which she 
speaks about Mr. Hudson, my grandfather, visiting 
her house at the time he was paying his addresses 
to her daughter. Amongst the relics of the past, 
that I likewise found, was an antique volume of 
the " Arabian Nights," 1 on the title-page of which 
is written in faded ink, " Priscilla Hudson, the gift 
of her aunt Lady Bannerman." This Priscilla 
Hudson was my mother's youngest sister, so that 
it would appear that my grandmother was con- 
nected by marriage with the Bannerman family. 

Having in a few words recounted all I have 
heard narrated to me about some of my relatives 
of the remote past, I will, without further delay, 
tell my own story, and, although I cannot promise 
anything in the way of exciting incidents, I ven- 
ture to hope that my reminiscences may not be 
without value, as I have in the course of my life 
been fortunate in meeting with many a celebrity of 
bygone musical times, and am thus enabled to 
speak about them and to recount not a few inci- 
dents of interest in connexion with them. 

1 Published in 1798 at Montrose, by Buchanan. 



CHAPTER I 

BOYHOOD KING'S SCHOLAR 

"II /TY earliest recollections are principally associ- 
"-*- ated with my school days and my practising 
on an old square piano of D'Almaine ; very much 
the same style of instrument, in outward appear- 
ance, as those seen in pictures of Mozart as a 
child, seated on a high stool, playing some infantine 
composition. 

I cannot say that in those days I always enjoyed 
practising, and I expect I must have frequently 
tried the patience of my mother who taught me. 

She had been a pupil of Sterndale Bennett, and 
no doubt I owe much to the early musical training 
I received from her. 

I can quite distinctly recollect learning my first 
tune. I was then seven years old. It seems 
strange that whilst I was being initiated into the 
mysteries of crochets and quavers, and of lines 
and spaces, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin 
were still living, and even adding new art treasures 

B 



2 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

to those that they had already produced. For 
when I first learnt to revere these names, they had 
already passed beyond the threshold of this limited 
sphere, and were reckoned among the great ones 
of the past. 

After I had overcome the initial difficulties of 
the piano, and was able to play fairly well, my 
musical studies were almost exclusively restricted 
to classical music ; I have sometimes thought 
almost too much so. Beethoven's Sonata in F 
minor, op. 2, was the first sonata I learnt, and 
I can even now recollect the intense pleasure 
studying it gave me. 

Anything light in music seemed to me utterly 
commonplace, but sometimes I found others not 
always sharing my opinion ; much to my disappoint- 
ment. Thus I recollect on one occasion, when I 
played a sonata to a French lady and gentleman, 
they remarked, "that it was a pity my playing was 
thrown away on such dry music." I am afraid that 
their opinion is even now shared by a great many, 
for who would think of playing a Beethoven 
sonata at a musical "At Home " ? 

It seems now curious to me that during my 
boyhood my tastes were not entirely centred in 
music. Yet such was actually the case. In fact, 
I believe I was fonder of scientific studies, for I 
can recollect making myself an electrical machine, 



BOYHOOD KING'S SCHOLAR 3 

as well as getting together a small chemical 
laboratory. Then I had quite a collection of 
scientific works, which I used to study assiduously. 

My father was so struck with my love for science, 
that at one time he seriously thought of bringing 
me up as an engineer or analytical chemist, and 
I was for that reason introduced to Dr. Bachoffner, 
at that time the lecturer at the Polytechnic In- 
stitution of London, whose lectures on chemistry 
and electricity gave me even keener pleasure than 
music itself. 

I have often thought since, that probably I had 
more love than actual talent for those subjects. 
Whether that was the case or not, it is certain 
that, although for a time science competed with 
music as to my future walk in life, in the end 
music gained the day. 

This was brought about by my being introduced 
at the age of eleven to Dr. Wylde, who was at 
that time a professor at the Royal Academy of 
Music. He heard me play, and thought so well 
of my talent, that he volunteered to give me 
instruction free of charge ; and his liberal offer 
being accepted by my father, my fate was decided 
upon, and I began to study with a view of 
becoming a musician. 

I can well recollect with how much pleasure 
I looked forward to my lessons ; I enjoyed, too, 



4 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

the walk through the fields that led from the 
Grove, Kentish Town, where I lived, to the top of 
Highgate Archway, for it was near there that 
Dr. Wylde dwelt. Alas ! those undulating fields 
have long since disappeared, and in their place 
has arisen a suburb obliterating all traces of the 
pastoral landscape I loved so well. 

I may here incidentally mention that, even as 
a child, I always had a great love for the beauties 
of nature. Perhaps this love of the picturesque 
may have been fostered in early childhood by the 
charming surroundings of Roslyn Castle, where 
I stayed some weeks when I was between the ages 
of seven and eight. 

At that time my grandmother, Mrs. Hudson, 
lived in a part of the castle, which was then let as 
a residence, and my mother had taken me there 
on a visit. 

I have a vivid recollection of the wild glen with 
its waterfall at the foot of the castle, and I can, 
in imagination, see myself looking with eyes of 
wonderment at the foaming cascade and the over- 
hanging wood, and then resting myself upon a 
ledge of rock that chance had formed into a rustic 
seat, and which nature had upholstered with thick 
moss, even softer than velvet. The castle itself, 
with its gloomy dungeons, conjured up mysterious 
feelings within me. And as children at the age 



BOYHOOD KING'S SCHOLAR 5 

I was then, are very imaginative, it would not 
have taken much to persuade me that it was 
haunted by the ghosts of the knights of old who 
had dwelt there, or of the prisoners who had pined 
away in captivity. 

The deep impression made upon me by Roslyn 
Castle has never faded from my memory, despite 
the number of years that have elapsed since I 
stayed there as a little child. I still feel as if, 
should I ever revisit it, I could find my way 
about the weird ins and outs of the ruins as easily 
as if I had been living there ever since. 

To resume from where I broke off, every week 
I regularly took my walk to Highgate Archway 
for my lessons, so that under Dr. Wylde's guidance 
I made such rapid progress, that when I arrived at 
the age of thirteen, he decided upon my trying for 
the King's Scholarship of the Royal Academy of 
Music ; at that time the only scholarship in exist- 
ence in England for music students. 

This gave an incentive to my working harder at 
my pianoforte playing. The pieces I prepared for 
the scholarship examination were Nos. 1 and 4 
from Mendelssohn's Seven Characteristic Pieces. 
I also wrote for it a very juvenile Sonata ; which, 
of course, my parents thought to be a wonderful 
feat for a boy to accomplish. 

This competition seemed a great event in my 



6 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

life ; and I well recollect how excited I felt as 
I made my way to Tenterden Street on the morn- 
ing of the competition. My father accompanied 
me, and we were ushered into the waiting-room of 
the Academy, which at that time was at the left- 
hand side of the hall, and where several other 
competitors with their friends or relations were 
assembled. Whilst I was waiting my turn, a 
gentleman, whose son was likewise competing, 
entered into conversation with my father, and, 
pointing to me where I was seated talking to a 
school companion of mine, who was in the run- 
ning, said to my father : " I feel sure that lad over 
there will gain the scholarship, he looks so musical. 
I should like, if possible, to know his name, as I 
intend to look in the paper to see if my opinion 
is correct." When he learnt my name from my 
father, he seemed very interested at his having, by 
chance, made his inquiry as to my identity of the 
very best authority possible. 

When my turn came for being examined, I 
cannot say that I felt entirely free from nervous- 
ness, but I pulled myself together and determined 
to do my best. 

Seated around a long table were the board of 
professors, at the head of which was Cipriani 
Potter, the Principal of the Academy. Although 
a man of small proportions, his appearance was, 



BOYHOOD KING'S SCHOLAR 7 

nevertheless, calculated to inspire a certain amount 
of awe in the mind of a juvenile. This was no 
doubt due to the peculiarly bushy eyebrows he 
had, which gave a certain degree of fierceness to 
his face. Amongst other professors present were, 
I believe, Sterndale Bennett, Charles Lucas, the 
father of the late Stanley Lucas, William Dorrell, 
and other musicians of reputation. 

I first handed in my Sonata ; then I sat at the 
piano and played the Mendelssohn pieces from 
memory, which, fortunately, went better than they 
had ever done before. After I had read a short 
piece at sight, the examiners asked me to extem- 
porize, and as I had always had a facility for this 
kind of performance, I believe I made a good im- 
pression upon them ; anyhow, I endeavoured, whilst 
I was improvising, to throw my whole soul into 
my playing. I feel certain that my extemporizing, 
more than anything else, decided the scholarship in 
my favour. 

When I entered upon my studies at the Royal 
Academy of Music, I felt how fortunate I was in 
having been admitted by competition to an in- 
stitution that had done so much for music, and 
which had given to the world such musicians as 
Sterndale Bennett, Miss Dolby, and George 
Macfarren. 

As a King's scholar of the Academy, whenever 



8 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

I appeared in public, I had to wear a uniform, the 
principal feature of which was a goodly row of gold 
buttons on my jacket, each of which had on it the 
Royal Coat of Arms, and of which I was not 
a little proud. 



CHAPTER II 

A VOCAL INTERLUDE MY DEBUT THE 
ORGAN LOFT 

TT might be assumed from what I have so far 
-*- written about my boyhood, that my musical 
tastes were cultivated solely in the direction of 
instrumental music ; nevertheless, I had some op- 
portunities of acquiring a love for vocal music as 
well. These were, it is true, very desultory ; still 
they served to introduce me to that department of 
musical art which so appeals to the masses. Had 
not my father been a professor of singing, I 
should, in those earlier years of my life, have 
heard little of the art to which he had devoted 
himself. Not a few of my father's pupils received 
their lessons at his house ; amongst these being a 
Mr. Charles Bingley, who had a beautiful and 
sonorous bass voice. He ultimately became a 
popular operatic singer, under the nom de plume of 
Charles Durand, and having private means, he 
established an operatic company which attained 
great and deserved success in the provinces. 

9 



10 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

While studying singing under my father he 
came for his lessons in the evenings and frequently 
brought his wife with him, when they sometimes 
stayed to supper. As I was a youngster then, I 
was sent early to bed, about eight o'clock. I recol- 
lect sometimes being lulled to sleep by the beauti- 
ful music I heard ; but more frequently, I lay 
awake listening to Charles Durand's fine singing 
of some operatic music. What I enjoyed most of 
all, were duets from Italian operas which he and 
my father sang. 

My father had a really charming tenor voice, 
which blended well with his pupil's grand bass. 
The celebrated duet from Rossini's " Barbiere," 
they often sang. On these occasions, I never 
slept, in fact I felt more like jumping out of bed 
and calling to them to sing it again. Even as I 
write, those wondrous harmonies seem to ring 
again in my ears. Ah ! how intense our enthu- 
siasm, how vivid our imagination in the springtime 
of youth ! 

The first blush of a new art sensation can 
seldom be experienced more than once in a life. 
For as we grow older, we try to analyse. If we 
see a play we are tempted to look behind the 
scenes ; if we watch the conjurer's feats, we form 
theories as to how he manipulates them. 



MY DEBUT THE ORGAN LOFT 11 

A few months after I had gained the scholarship 
referred to in the last chapter, an event occurred, 
which, although having no bearing on my musical 
studies, made a great and lasting impression upon 
me. This was the opening of the Great Exhibition 
of 1851. 

I have already stated, that I used, as a boy, to 
go for my pianoforte lessons to a house close to 
Highgate Archway. This house was for several 
years the residence of Sir Charles Fox, the engineer 
of the Exhibition. It was there that Dr. Wylde, 
who was a cousin of Lady Fox, resided for some 
time. Thus it was that I not infrequently dined 
at Farquhar House, as Sir Charles's residence was 
named, and so made the acquaintance of the dis- 
tinguished engineer. 

It was natural that I should take additional 
interest in the Exhibition from the fact of my being 
personally acquainted with the engineer. He must 
have been a man of marvellous powers to have 
carried out so successfully Sir Joseph Paxton's 
ideas. No building constructed of glass and iron 
on so large a scale, had ever been erected before. 
It certainly was an unprecedented piece of engineer- 
ing, and in a modified form it still exists, under the 
name of the Crystal Palace. That fairylike struc- 
ture is, to a great extent, the Exhibition of 1851, 
removed to Sydenham. 



12 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

What excitement there was over this Exhibition, 
and what a wonderful surprise it was to those who 
saw it for the first time. Imagine the Crystal 
Palace transported by some magician to Hyde 
Park, and then you will have some idea of the 
novel appearance the structure presented. Then 
the interior was unique, for inside the Exhibition 
many of the large trees of the park were left 
standing. But the great height of the building 
caused them to look comparatively small, so that 
they quite harmonized with the tout ensemble. 
There were so many objects of interest exhibited, 
that I am afraid they have quite confused my 
memory. The wonderful Koh-i-noor diamond per- 
haps made the deepest impression upon me. Prob- 
ably this was because of the difficulty experienced 
in trying to see it, owing to the crowds of people 
surrounding it. When I obtained a view, it ap- 
peared to me very much smaller than I expected. 
For I had heard so much about its extraordinary 
size, that I should not have been surprised to have 
found it as large as the egg of an ostrich. Con- 
sidering its enormous value, it looked very in- 
adequately protected. But I was told that, by 
a clever contrivance, should any one have made a 
dash for it, there was an automatic arrangement, 
by which the diamond would have disappeared the 
moment it was touched, whilst, at the same time, 



MY DEBUT THE ORGAN LOFT 13 

the hand of the culprit would have been caught 
and held in a kind of trap until the arrival of the 
police. 

One feature of the Exhibition I recollect very 
well indeed, and that was its division into different 
countries. One often heard snatches of conversa- 
tion like the following : " Well ! I think we have 
had enough of France, let us pay a visit to Turkey 
for a few minutes, and after that we will go and 
have some tea in Russia before we leave," and so on. 



Two years after the opening of the Exhibition 
I made my first appearance as a pianist at the New 
Philharmonic Concerts. This was a great event in 
my boyhood. I had been present at the inaugural 
season of this society, but little thought then that 
in the following year I should appear as a solo 
pianist at one of the concerts. 

A few words about these Concerts may not be 
out of place. They were instituted at the initia- 
tive of Dr. Wylde, in conjunction with Mr. Beale, 
of the firm of J. B. Cramer & Co., and others ; 
and were on a larger scale, as regards the con- 
stitution of the orchestra, than the public were 
accustomed to in those days. The only mistake 
committed was that in respect to the name, as that 
caused great offence to those interested in the 



14 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

Philharmonic Society. Otherwise, especially during 
the earlier history of the New Philharmonic, no 
expense was spared to present to the public some 
of the finest Orchestral Concerts ever given in 
London. 

With Hector Berlioz as conductor and a large 
orchestra comprising the most accomplished 
players, the concerts of the first season left an 
aftermath of pleasure in the memory of all who 
heard them. I shall never forget the splendid 
performance of Beethoven's Choral Symphony. 
To the fine orchestra was united an excellent 
chorus of picked voices ; whilst for solo singers 
were chosen Clara Novello, Miss Williams, Sims 
Reeves, and Staudigl. 

Another most interesting occasion, at which I 
was present, was the third New Philharmonic, 
given on 24 March, 1852, when Berlioz conducted 
the first performance, in England, of his " Romeo 
and Juliet." I, doubtless, was too young at that 
time to enter fully into the spirit of so advanced 
a school of music ; but, nevertheless, I was much 
impressed with the effect of the chorus of 
Capulets, which is sung behind the scenes, as well 
as with the Scherzo 1 " Queen Mab," which took 
every one by surprise. At the end of the concert, 

1 It may be interesting to mention that the tymbales <T argent in 
this Scherzo were played on this occasion by Mr. Ganz and Mr. E. 
Silas. 



MY DEBUT THE ORGAN LOFT 15 

Berlioz received quite an ovation, and a wreath 
of laurels was handed to him by one of the 
audience. 

The day following this performance I saw Berlioz 
walking down Regent Street, which gave me an 
opportunity of seeing him at closer quarters. I 
noticed how deep and poetical was the expression 
of his features ; there was also a look of pleasure 
in his face such as one might have expected after 
his artistic triumph of the previous night. 

In regard to my debut at the New Philharmonic, 
which took place on 4 July, 1853, at Exeter Hall, 
certain of the directors of these Concerts at first 
showed some opposition to my appearance as a 
performer. I was thought to be too young ; and, 
as then I had played in public only at the 
Students' Concerts of the Royal Academy, fears 
were entertained as to the manner in which I 
might acquit myself. Eventually a compromise 
was arrived at by which it was decided that I was 
to play at the rehearsal, and, if the conductor 
thought well of my performance, my name should 
then be included in the programme. Louis Spohr, 
the great violinist and composer, was conductor of 
the New Philharmonic Concerts during their 
second season, and it was he who had to decide 
my fate. 

At that time Spohr's music was popular in 



16 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

England, and his reputation as a great violinist 
was fresh in the recollection of many ; so that his 
appointment as conductor of the New Phil- 
harmonic Concerts was looked upon as quite an 
event. 

In appearance he was a massive style of man, 
both tall and stout, but his face was intellectual, 
without, however, the poetical expression of 
features that I noticed in Berlioz. 

Never having played before with so large an 
orchestra, it was rather an ordeal for me, and I do 
not say that I was altogether free from nervousness 
at the rehearsal ; but all went well, and Spohr 
strongly advised the committee to let me play. 

At the concert he led me on the platform. 
How small I must have looked beside him as we 
walked on together. Of course, I was wearing 
my jacket with the gold buttons, and I expect 
I excited the curiosity of the audience who made 
a great noise when I appeared. I played the 
D minor Concerto of Mendelssohn from memory, 
and met with a most encouraging welcome. 

Ernest Pauer often used to tell me how he 
had heard me play on this my first appearance. 
Amongst those present were, I have under- 
stood, Blumenthal, Ganz, and other well-known 
musicians. In consequence of my success, I was 
engaged to play at the New Philharmonic Concerts 



MY DEBUT THE ORGAN LOFT 17 

every season until I went to Germany. Among 
the Concertos I performed was that of Beethoven 
in G, always a great favourite with me. 

During the years that elapsed between my 
debut and my departure for Leipsic, I continued 
my pianoforte studies under Dr. Wylde, having 
been re - elected King's scholar at the Royal 
Academy. For my second study I took the violin 
with William Watson as my teacher. In addi- 
tion to this I began to devote myself earnestly 
to composition, but found to my discouragement 
that, although I could extemporize on the piano- 
forte with great facility, when I endeavoured to 
put my ideas into definite shape, they wellnigh 
refused to come at all. They seemed, in fact, as 
though dried up, and when at last I did succeed 
in getting a subject or a theme, I found the 
greatest difficulty in elaborating it. Sometimes 
a few bars would take me as many months to 
write before they satisfied me ; but I persevered 
notwithstanding. Of course, practice improved 
matters as regards facility, but not so much as 
I had hoped it would ; and it was not, indeed, 
until I composed my music to " The Ancient 
Mariner " that I wrote with anything like ease ; 
but of this 1 will speak later on. 

I must not here forget to make mention of a 
very interesting concert at which I played a year 



18 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES <2r> IMPRESSIONS 

or two prior to going to Germany. This concert 
was one given at the Crystal Palace, in order to 
commemorate the centenary of Mozart's birth, 
and took place in the year 1856. 

It was one of the earliest of the Crystal Palace 
performances, before they had attained the grand 
proportions arrived at by the celebrated Saturday 
Concerts. I played the D minor Concerto of 
Mozart, and introduced a cadence of my own. 
August Manns conducted, and I then made the 
acquaintance of Sir George (then Mr.) Grove, 
who was at that time secretary of the Crystal 
Palace. 

The concert-room in which I played exists no 
longer, for it was destroyed by the same fire 
which swept away that section of the palace pre- 
viously known as the " Tropical Department." In 
truth, when the flames on that eventful night 
belched forth into the air, presenting the appear- 
ance of a fiery steeple and illumining the country 
for miles around, it more than earned its title 
of " Tropical." 

The earlier days of the Crystal Palace, likewise, 
recall to my memory another musical event which 
occurred a few months before my departure for 
Germany. This was no less than the first of the 
great Handel festivals, and was given in the year 
1857. Although it was called a preliminary 



MY DEBUT THE ORGAN LOFT 19 

festival, it was really on the same grand scale as 
the one which followed it in 1859. 

I had the privilege of being one of the instru- 
mentalists on the occasion of the preliminary 
festival, when I played in the orchestra among 
the violins. This gave me an opportunity of again 
hearing Clara Novello, whose pure soprano notes 
rilled the vast edifice from end to end. Among 
the other singers were Miss Dolby, Mr. Sims 
Reeves, Herr Formes, and Mr. Weiss. My father 
and mother sang in the chorus, which was indeed 
quite a representative one, for nearly every pro- 
fessor of music in London who had a good voice 
was among the choristers. 

Some reference to my studies in organ-playing 
may not be out of place. From the age of thir- 
teen I had played the organ accompaniments to 
the Masses of Mozart and Haydn in the church 
to which my father was attached as conductor of 
the music. My first engagement was at the 
Catholic Church in Warwick Street, near Regent 
Street. There I succeeded German Reed, who 
at the time had not entered that path of public 
life in which he afterwards achieved such popu- 
larity. It must have been many years prior to his 
starting the German Reed Illustrations that he 
was engaged as organist at the Warwick Street 
Church. I cannot say that his juvenile successor 



20 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

knew much about the art of organ-playing. When 
I was appointed organist, I was practically igno- 
rant of the true art of manipulating the king of 
instruments, although by the aid of the Novello 
arrangements of the Masses I was able to make 
some effect, and I soon gained a certain amount 
of facility in managing the pedals. But it 
was not true organ-playing, for I scarcely ever 
made use of an independent pedal part. 1 should 
probably never have risen above this slipshod 
mode of treating the organ, had I not made the 
acquaintance of Mr. George Herbert. He was 
a member of the Farm Street congregation, and 
took so much interest in my organ-playing that 
he advised me to study it seriously and to take 
lessons of Mr. George Cooper. This eminent 
musician was organist at St. Sepulchre's Church 
as well as assistant organist at St. Paul's Cathe- 
dral, where Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Goss pre- 
sided over the music. 

One reason why Mr. Herbert was anxious that 
I should thoroughly qualify myself in this depart- 
ment of my profession was, that I might in time 
become eligible for the post of organist at Farm 
Street Church, in the arrangements for the music 
of which he took an active part. But my sojourn 
in Leipsic prevented the accomplishment of his 
plan. I am glad, notwithstanding, that I took his 



MY DEBUT THE ORGAN LOFT 21 

advice and studied under George Cooper. That 
distinguished organist in due course introduced 
to me those magnificent works of Bach the 
so-called pedal fugues. Sometimes he played one 
of them to me in grand style, for he was a 
wonderful pedalist, and brought out glorious 
effects from the fine old organ at St. Sepulchre's. 
He also introduced me to the three beautiful 
preludes and fugues of Mendelssohn. The peace- 
ful and melodious prelude of the second one in G, 
I was never tired of playing. I look back with 
pleasure to this episode of my student days, when, 
under the guidance of my accomplished master, 
I made the acquaintance of so many charming 
works for the organ. 

My first organist engagement at Warwick Street 
Church, to which I have alluded, did not last more 
than a year, for a misunderstanding between the 
clergy of the church and my father in regard to 
some details in connexion with the music, led to his 
throwing up his post of conductor, and, as a sequel 
to this step, I resigned my organ appointment. 
When this contretemps became known to the 
head priest at the church of St. Aloysius, Claren- 
don Square, he at once offered us engagements 
there in similar departments to those we had occu- 
pied at Warwick Street, which we accepted. 

On the eve of entering upon our duties at the 



22 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

new church, as we had been given no time to form 
a choir, we were somewhat concerned as to how 
we should manage. But to our surprise, on our 
first Sunday at Clarendon Square, we found all the 
members of the Warwick Street Choir assembled. 
Hearing of the change that had been made, and 
being very much attached to my father as their 
conductor, they had resolved to follow him en 
masse. So we were thus able to make an excel- 
lent start, much to the gratification of the clergy 
and congregation of the church. 

My Sunday morning at the organ was to me 
always a source of enjoyment. Besides the choir 
that had followed us, we had excellent solo singers, 
and I revelled in the beauty of the Masses of 
Haydn, Mozart, and Hummel, which we per- 
formed, and which are now sadly neglected. I 
believe that the hearing of choral music weekly 
did much towards building up my style of choral 
writing; and later on this proved of great ser- 
vice to me when I was called upon to write 
cantatas. 



CHAPTER III 
BOULOGNE AND DOUGLAS JERROLD 

/~\XE great advantage I enjoyed as organist of 
^-^ the church of St. Aloysius was that my organ 
duties did not interfere with my holidays the 
organist's usual difficulty of finding a substitute 
being solved for me by my predecessor (who had 
resigned) being always ready to play the Masses 
whilst I was away. 

Speaking of these holidays, however, takes me 
back to a still earlier period, when staying one 
summer at Herne Bay as a child of but seven 
years old. One day in June my two little sisters 
and I went out to the beach to play. It hap- 
pened to be high water at the time. Near us was 
a kind of wooden landing-place or breakwater, 
supported by planks resting upon trestles, and 
stretching far into the sea. Boy-like, I took my 
sisters on to it, and leaving them midway, went 
myself to the extreme end to swim my boat. The 
enjoyment of sailing my craft, however, was sud- 
denly interrupted by cries for help from Josephine. 



24 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6r> IMPRESSIONS 

the elder of the two little girls ; for the younger 
one had fallen into the sea ! Josephine, with great 
presence of mind for a child of five, clinging to the 
breakwater with one hand, managed to snatch 
hold of her sister with the other, just in time to 
prevent her being carried away by the tide. So 
she held her and kept the little one from sinking 
until help came from the shore. 

The incident happened to be witnessed by two 
gentlemen who were members of the Royal 
Humane Society, and being struck by the pluck 
and composure displayed by Josephine, they re- 
ported the affair at the next meeting of the 
Society. As an appreciation of her young hero- 
ism, Josephine was awarded the bronze medal of 
the Society, and at their annual dinner, when the 
recipients of medals paraded the hall to be intro- 
duced to the Lord Mayor, she was carried in the 
procession by one of the gentlemen, to receive her 
token. 

After this I was always on the look out for 
some accident which might give me an opportunity 
of displaying an equal amount of courage, with a 
similar recognition in the shape of a medal. But 
somehow the opportunity persistently refused to 
occur. Neither of my sisters would do me the 
favour of falling into the sea, to afford me the 
chance of heroically rescuing one of them, although 



BOULOGNE AND DOUGLAS JERROLD 25 

for quite a year or two afterwards I always held 
myself ready for action. 



But to return to the time when I was organist 
at St. Aloysius, my summer holidays were always 
spent with my father and mother at Boulogne. 
This was brought about in consequence of my 
elder sisters having been sent to the Ursuline 
Convent, at that town, to be educated. So that 
instead of their returning home during vacations, 
we went to Boulogne to see them and to afford 
them amusement and relaxation. Therefore, every 
morning, we used to call for them at the convent 
and, after they had spent the day with us, we 
would take them back again in the evening. 

On one occasion, when we went for them, the 
Mother Superior, having heard of my musical 
achievements, asked me if I would play some- 
thing, as the nuns very much wished to hear me. 
This I arranged to do, and on the following day, 
when I reached the convent, I found that the nuns, 
together with the pupils, were already assembled. 
I played several pieces to them, and was quite sur- 
prised to find how demonstrative in applause they 
were. When I left it was with the understanding 
that I was to come and give them another oppor- 
tunity of hearing me. Each summer that we went 



26 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

to Boulogne, part of the programme consisted in 
my giving a small pianoforte recital to the nuns 
and their pupils. 

I forget how many summers we spent there, but 
I think that during all my student time at the 
Royal Academy of Music, and perhaps a year or 
two after, my holidays were accounted for in this 
way. And a very pleasant place is Boulogne in 
the summer, with its bright and busy streets, 
which are all the more enlivened by the mixture 
of French and English who crowd them. Then 
the Hauteville gives variety and picturesque char- 
acter to the place, and the ramparts afford an 
agreeable promenade on a summer's evening. The 
harbour too, at high tide, is most interesting. 
Fishing-boats come in and go out, and the inter- 
minable chatter of the poissardes in a language 
which baffles the best French scholar to under- 
stand, all give to Boulogne a character novel to 
English visitors. 

Then, if we return to the town and draw nigh 
to a church, we are sure to find it open, and enter- 
ing, we experience that feeling of peaceful rest 
from the busy turmoil of the outer world, which 
the interior of a sacred edifice so often impresses 
upon us, conveying a mysteriously religious influ- 
ence. 

At Boulogne there was, and is now, I believe, 



BOULOGNE AND DOUGLAS JERROLD 27 

quite an English colony, many men having settled 
in the town after the active work of their lives had 
been completed in their native country. 

At the time of which I am speaking, among 
those whom 1 understood to be temporarily living 
at Boulogne, was Douglas Jerrold, 1 with whom 
my father had been very intimate several years 
before. We met him one day, when we were out 
walking, and I was introduced to him by my 
father. He then probably looked older than his 
years should have accounted for, as he seemed 
quite bent double with age or infirmity. He was 
very interested at hearing that I was studying at 
the Royal Academy of Music. He gave me some 
sage advice, and told me to work well and with 
zeal for my art. 

Douglas Jerrold, as I saw him then, appeared 
to me to be a very serious man, especially when 
giving me advice ; and one could have scarcely 
realized that he had in his earlier days been one 
of the most sparkling wits of the period. 

He had been an intimate friend of my uncle, 
John Barnett, the composer. In consequence of 
this intimacy, dating many years previously, my 
father became acquainted with Douglas Jerrold. 
For, when a youth, my father lived with his elder 

1 It is possible that Jerrold was then only a visitor at Boulogne, 
as he died at his house in Kilburn Priory in 1857. 



28 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

brother John, and as my uncle at that time kept 
an open house, at which all the principal literati 
and wits of the day used to assemble, my father 
had the opportunity of meeting such men as 
Thackeray, Douglas Jerrold, and other celebrities. 

My uncle told me several anecdotes about 
Jerrold's witticisms, but I am sorry to say that 
time has effaced them from my memory, with 
the exception of one very trifling instance of his 
drollery, which I will relate. 

. It is said that Douglas Jerrold one day met a 
friend of his who was chronically hard up. They 
had not been long in conversation before his 
friend said : " I say, Jerrold, I'm rather low in 
funds, would you lend me a sovereign ? " Jerrold, 
with all the appearance of intense generosity, 
answered with alacrity, "With the greatest plea- 
sure, my dear fellow, only," he added ominously, 
" I do not happen to have one about me." 

Another well - known man who at that time 
was also staying at Boulogne, was Henry Russell, 
the author of many songs beloved by the people. 
My father knew him well, and we often spent a 
pleasant hour in company with the composer of 
" Woodman, spare the tree." I recollect, one day, 
he asked my father and myself to join him at a 
fete given at a chateau in the neighbourhood, 
which afforded us an opportunity of becoming 



BOULOGNE AND DOUGLAS JERROLD 29 

acquainted with the mode of life a la grand 
seigneur, as it is, or rather was, carried out in a 
French country-house. The grounds adjoining 
the chateau had a terrace walk from which 
lovely views of the surrounding country could 
be obtained. 

On the occasion of a visit to Boulogne in the 
year 1854, I saw, en passant, one of the most con- 
spicuous characters of the nineteenth century, who 
at that time was the powerful ruler of a great 
nation. I was out walking one fine day, when I 
saw a vast number of infantry soldiers parading 
before a staff of generals. Inquiring of a by- 
stander, I learned that they were troops being 
reviewed by the Emperor Louis Napoleon, previous 
to their departure for the Crimean War. Presently, 
I saw Napoleon the Third himself riding past. He 
was altogether a striking figure. His clear-cut 
features and pointed moustache gave him a dis- 
tinguished appearance. The military uniform of 
Field-Marshal became him well, and he rode his 
beautiful steed with perfect ease. 

Having followed his career from the newspapers 
from the day of the coup d'etat which placed him 
on the throne of France, one can readily imagine 
the interest I felt on seeing him at close quarters. 

I have often wondered that I never saw him 
whilst he was living in exile at Chislehurst, for I 



30 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

was during the time a frequent visitor at that 
charming woodland locality. 

Perhaps it is as well I did not see him in those 
later years, for, as last impressions are the most 
enduring, it is far better to recollect a man as he 
was in his prosperity, than to meet with him again 
when fate has cast her die irrevocably against him. 

After the death of the Emperor, I often used 
to see the Empress and the ill-fated Prince Imperial 
at the pretty little Chislehurst Chapel. 

It was quite touching, when the Empress and 
her son entered, to witness the congregation rise up 
in token of respect. How dignified and stately 
was her figure ; with what sympathy she filled us, 
as she went into her seat in front of the altar. 
We little thought then that the time was near 
when her sole remaining hope would be blighted, 
and the comely youth we saw beside her would 
perish in a far-off country by the hands of 
savages. 

But the memories of my earlier summer holidays 
spent so agreeably at Boulogne, and the associations 
they call forth, must not make me forget the more 
serious side of my life as a student of musical art. 

The two scholarships of which I had enjoyed 
the advantage at the Royal Academy of Music, 
had expired ; and although I still continued my 
studies in composition and pianoforte, I felt that 



BOULOGNE AND DOUGLAS JERROLD 31 

more was to be done, and that my sphere of action 
needed expansion. So, when Mr. Henry Fowler 
Broadwood, then the head of the great firm of 
pianoforte makers, John Broadwood & Sons, pro- 
posed my going to Germany, I readily acquiesced 
in his views, and determined upon acting on his 
advice. 



CHAPTER IV 

STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 

~|i yf~Y original idea in going abroad was to make 
-^"-*- my appearance as a pianist at different towns 
in Germany. I chose Leipsic in the first instance, 
because I. was anxious to study counterpoint for a 
time with Moritz Hauptmann, who was regarded 
as one of the first authorities on that subject. 

Not many days after my arrival I found myself 
on my way to Hauptmann's house. This proved 
to be a quaint, old-looking building, 1 near the 
Thomas Schule, of which Hauptmann, like Bach 
before him, was Musikdirektor. There was a bell- 
handle by the door, which I pulled, when to my 
surprise the door was opened instantly by a spring. 
After waiting a minute or two a servant appeared 
and showed me into Hauptmann's room. This, as 
I was afterwards told, was the selfsame room 
that the great Sebastian Bach used as his study, 
and where, no doubt, he had written the greater 
number of his immortal works. 

1 This house, I have been informed, exists no longer, as it was 
pulled down some years ago to make way for improvements in the town. 

32 



STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 33 

It was an antique room with panelled wainscot- 
ing, and it did not seem as if it had undergone 
any material change since the time that Bach 
occupied it. 

In a corner near the window was a German 
stove, which, to me, looked very unlike a stove, 
compared with our English fireplaces. In fact it 
had the appearance of a large model tower in 
white porcelain, reaching almost to the ceiling. 

By the wall, opposite the window, was an 
upright piano, and at the side of the room, near 
the door, stood a secretaire. 

When I entered, with my letter of introduction, 
Hauptmann was seated at this secretaire writing. 
A pretty canary was flying about the room, and 
perched sometimes upon his shoulder. As soon as 
he was aware of my presence he rose and received 
me in a very kindly manner. 

Hauptmann was a man who impressed one by 
his appearance as possessing great intellectual 
powers, and I soon discovered that this was fully 
borne out by the vast amount of knowledge he 
possessed on the subject I had purposely come to 
be enlightened upon. 

He was greatly interested when I told him that 
one of my principal objects in wishing to study 
with him was to improve myself in fugal writing ; 
and that, although I had for some years worked 



34 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

hard at contrapuntal studies on the Cherubini 
system, and had practised writing fugues, I had 
always felt that there was something wanting in 
my counterpoint, for which I was continually 
striving, but could never attain. To this he 
replied that it would be necessary for me to 
go through a course of counterpoint with him, 
commencing from the simplest canto fermo exer- 
cises. 

I was not long in discovering that his method 
differed very much from that of Cherubini. 

In course of time, after having written numerous 
contrapuntal exercises, I began to work on canon 
and fugue, at first in two, and afterwards in three 
or four parts. I then noticed, to my great satis- 
faction, that I was beginning to write in quite 
a different style of counterpoint ; in fact, more in 
the style that I had placed before myself as my 
ideal. The style to which his system evidently led 
was, curiously, very much the same as that em- 
ployed by Sebastian Bach, by which the tendency 
to dryness in counterpoint is avoided. 

That Bach's counterpoint, as regards instru- 
mental music, is more homogeneous, and more 
easily amenable to expressive effects, is evident 
from the great and increased interest taken in his 
works by the musical public. Mendelssohn, in 
following the same lines of counterpoint, showed 



STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 35 

his wisdom. For are not his preludes and fugues 
amongst his most admired compositions ? 

I have already said that one of my principal 
objects in going abroad was to appear at some 
of the important concerts in Germany. 

This I found less easy to accomplish than I ex- 
pected. Having had success as a pianist in Eng- 
land, I thought that that fact would easily gain me 
admittance to the concert-room in other countries. 
However, I had a letter of introduction to Julius 
Rietz (conductor of the Gewandhaus Concerts), 
which I presented to him, telling him how desirous 
I was of being heard as a pianist in Germany. 
He asked me to play something, which I accord- 
ingly did ; but although he was evidently much 
pleased with my performance, he only gave me 
a kind of half promise in regard to my appear- 
ance at the Gewandhaus Concerts. This I judged 
rightly as meaning a polite refusal of my request. 
For I knew by his manner that the promise was of 
a very doubtful kind. Nevertheless, I ultimately 
obtained the object I had in view, although I had 
to wait a considerable time before I did so. 

Meanwhile, I resigned myself to circumstances, 
and resolved, in place of concert playing, to continue 
my studies, not only in counterpoint but also in 
the piano. 

Having heard much about Louis Plaidy's method 



36 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

of technique, and finding that my manner of hold- 
ing my hands, and other details, were not in 
accordance with it, I decided upon studying with 
him. 

In the first instance I took private lessons from 
him, and was thus able to become more thoroughly 
acquainted with his system than would have been 
possible in his class at the Conservatorium. 

This institution I entered a few months later as 
a student, where I continued working at counter- 
point under Hauptmann. 

For the pianoforte I not only had Plaidy as my 
instructor, but Moscheles as well. I think, in 
many respects, the greatest advantage I enjoyed 
was studying with Julius Rietz, who was a won- 
derful master for enabling the student to give 
finish and conciseness to his compositions. 

Rietz at that time was one of the most notable 
musicians in Germany, occupying the important 
post of conductor of the celebrated Gewandhaus 
Concerts his predecessor having been no less a 
person than the far-famed Mendelssohn. Although 
he had not the same gift for composition as that 
versatile composer, he fully maintained the great 
reputation that the orchestral performances at 
these concerts had acquired. His art standard 
was extremely high, and his experience in regard 
to every detail necessary for composition was 



STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 37 

most valuable to the student. In appearance he 
was very artistic, as the accompanying photograph 
will show. He did not court society, however, 
but lived almost entirely for art. 

Rietz was a man of quick temper, and woe 
betide the student who neglected his composition 
studies, or who ruffled his equanimity in any way. 
I remember on one occasion that Horneman, 1 a 
new student fresh from Denmark, forgot to close 
the door on entering the class-room, whereupon 
Rietz called to him in angry tones. " Denken Sie 
dass Sie auf die Strasse sind ? " (" Do you think 
you are in the street ? "), which probably sounded 
more insulting in German than it would have done 
in English. Horneman was so offended with this 
rebuff that for weeks he never went near Rietz's 
class, until I persuaded him to forget the affront 
offered him and to regard it as Rietz's "little 
way." 

Horneman was looked upon by the students of 
the Conservatorium as quite a genius, for although 
his compositions were then somewhat old-fashioned 
in character and loose in construction, they gave 
evident signs of originality. He had rather pecu- 
liar notions as to making alterations in his work. 
He maintained that whatever a composer wrote 

1 Horneman, who became a well-known composer, died quite 
recently, on 8 June, 1906. He was an intimate friend of Grieg. 



212140 



38 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

first was the result of inspiration, and should 
remain untouched. I had several arguments with 
him upon this subject. I held that in order to 
improve in composition it was frequently neces- 
sary to make corrections and alterations ; that 
even Beethoven had done so, as is shown by his 
sketch-books. Horneman's theory was that, in 
course of time, continual practice would bring the 
necessary experience and facility. 

Rietz's class awakens many interesting recollec- 
tions. Several of those who attended it have since 
become famous in the musical world. One of the 
most prominent among them was Arthur Sullivan, 
who had come to Leipsic to study as Mendels- 
sohn Scholar. His genial and delightful manners 
made him, at once, popular with all his fellow- 
students. I am glad now that I had such good 
opportunity of being in his company, for I 
thoroughly enjoyed his society. He had charm- 
ing boyish ways of his own. For instance, on the 
evening on which I was to make my debut at the 
Gewandhaus concert, he happened to come into 
my room whilst I was dressing, and insisted upon 
tying my white necktie for me, saying : " What a 
swell you look, Barnett." 

He often gave me advice when I got into 
trouble with any of my compositions, and I some- 
times returned the compliment. Thus, I recollect 



STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 39 

on one occasion, when he was working at a string 
quartet, he asked me to help him out of a diffi- 
culty, which I did, by writing in a few bars for 
him. 

He, as well as Franklin Taylor, Walter Bache, 
and Carl Rosa also fellow-students, I frequently 
met at my aunt's (Mrs. John Barnett), who, to- 
gether with her family, was then living at Leipsic. 
Every Sunday she kept open house for us ; and we 
often passed very enjoyable evenings, at which 
music was the principal feature. 

Three of my cousins were likewise at the 
Conservatorium : Rosamond, now Mrs. Robert 
Francillon ; Clara, now Mrs. Henry Rogers, living 
at Boston, U.S.A.; and Domenico, who is piano- 
forte professor at the Ladies' College, Cheltenham. 

The evenings spent at my aunt's house fre- 
quently partook of the nature of chamber con- 
certs, at which all in turn took part. We had 
programmes written out, and Franklin Taylor 
acted as our critic and wrote MS. articles on our 
performances or compositions. Sometimes we 
were rather severely handled by him. At others 
we received our meed of praise, which we thought 
all the more of if we had previously come in for 
severe criticism. On one occasion, some of us 
agreed to write part-songs which when finished 
we sang there and then. The soprano and con- 



40 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES fir* IMPRESSIONS 

tralto were taken by my cousins Clara and 
Rosamond ; Arthur Sullivan, I think, sang tenor, 
and Carl Rosa bass, whilst I accompanied on the 
piano. I believe two or three of these part-songs, 
in later days, were published, and probably were 
made public property by the Leslie Choir. 

Another time, Sullivan and myself arranged to 
write trios for whistling ; that is to say, the 
three parts were whistled instead of being sung. 
I believe the upper part was whistled by Mr. 
Arthur Payne, who also was frequently at my 
aunt's. He whistled with such facility that I 
once heard him execute in this manner portions 
of one of Spohr's violin concertos, which he knew 
by heart, as he was a violin student at the Con- 
servatorium. He is now a publisher at Leipsic, 
as was his father before him, and some years ago 
he brought out those beautiful miniature editions 
of the great masters' string quartets, so convenient 
for taking with one to concerts. Apropos of these 
whistling trios, I came across one of them some 
years later, and worked it up into an organ piece, 
which is now published. 

One of my fellow-students at Leipsic was Emil 
Krause, with whom I took many a walk to the 
rustic villages that are dotted round that city. 
As he was anxious to improve his English, whilst 
I wished to make progress in German conversa- 



STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 41 

tion, we had a compact between us, by which it 
was arranged that we should speak English until 
we had arrived at the extreme limit of our walk, 
and on our returning German was to be the 
medium of our conversation. Emil Krause, ever 
since his student days, has settled in Hamburg, 
his native place. He is well known as a composer 
and writer of studies for improving pianoforte 
technique. 

Another of my fellow-students was Grieg, the 
celebrated Norwegian composer, but he must have 
been at the Conservatorium during the latter part 
of my stay in Leipsic, for I seem to have for- 
gotten that he was my colleague. Indeed, it was 
Grieg himself who reminded me of it, when I 
saw him some years ago in the artists' room of 
St. James's Hall, after he had played his fine 
concerto at one of the Philharmonic concerts. 

I have already stated that I not only studied the 
piano with Plaidy at the Conservatorium, but like- 
wise with Moscheles. This system of studying the 
same subject with two masters no doubt has 
some advantages, but it has also not a few draw- 
backs. The student soon finds that musicians, 
like doctors, often disagree. Thus Plaidy initiated 
us into the mysteries of staccato from the loose 
wrist, whilst Moscheles advocated octaves from 
the arm. The student, therefore, had to exercise 



42 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

his discretion as to which theory to accept in this, 
as in some other matters. On the whole, in regard 
to technique one learnt the most from Plaidy, 
and in respect to style, from Moscheles. The 
latter gave me many valuable hints in phrasing. 

Moscheles was fond of playing over his studies 
to his pupils, and very finely he rendered them. 
He evidently regarded them as the best things he 
had done, and in this he was not mistaken. 

I learnt many of Beethoven's Sonatas with him, 
and the remarks he made in reference to style 
were all the more valuable and interesting, as he 
had heard them played by Beethoven himself. 

It is curious, however, that he advocated the 
Hummel method of interpreting the Phralltriller, 
or, as it is now frequently called, the "upper 
mordent." For I was one day playing the Sonata 
Pathetique in the lesson, and rendering the upper 
mordents, which frequently occur in the allegro of 
the first movement, by giving the accent on the 
first note of the ornament, which is considered to 
be the orthodox manner, when he stopped me and 
directed me to give the accent on the third or 
main note, as was advocated by Hummel. As 
Moscheles had heard Beethoven play this sonata, 
the question arises : Which of the two methods 
of interpreting the upper mordent did the great 
composer himself adopt? There is no doubt, 




IGNAZ MOSCHEI.ES 



STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 43 

however, in my mind, that the orthodox manner, 
as explained by such authorities as Dannreuther 
and Franklin Taylor, gives the most pathetic effect 
to the phrases in which these antique ornaments 
occur in the sonata. 

I ought not to omit the name of E. F. Richter in 
connexion with my work at the Conservatorium. 
He took the harmony and some of the counter- 
point classes ; but as I had gone through a 
thorough course of harmony whilst a student in 
London at the Royal Academy of Music, I at 
once entered his counterpoint classes ; and as I 
still continued my studies in this branch of the 
art with Hauptmann, it will be seen that I had 
enough to do to satisfy the contrapuntal demands 
of my two masters. 

Richter had also an organ class, which he held 
at one of the churches, as there was no organ at 
the Conservatorium. Being desirous of continuing 
my studies on this instrument, I entered his class. 
I found that the German system of playing the 
pedals differed greatly from the English system. 
The heel was not used at all, everything being 
executed with the toe, no doubt for the reason 
that the pedals are so much wider apart in the 
German than they are in our English organs. I 
noticed too that in Germany the swell organ was 
conspicuous by its absence. He ridiculed the 



44 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

idea of the use of the swell organ, calling it 
Spielerei, which may be freely translated " child's 
play." 

Richter was a great smoker ; so great that even 
the sacred character of the edifice in which he 
gave his class did not deter him from indulging 
in his favourite habit. Had any one entered the 
church during the time we were receiving our 
lessons, he would have been surprised at what 
appeared to be a cloud of incense arising from the 
organ-loft instead of from the al^ar. And no 
wonder, for he would have discovered Richter 
enjoying a fragrant cigar ! 

Undoubtedly one of the greatest advantages 
derived by studying "the divine art" in Leipsic 
is the opportunity of hearing, frequently, orches- 
tral and chamber concerts. In the Saxon strong- 
hold of music one seems to live amongst musicians. 
The Gewandhaus is close at hand, whatever part 
of Leipsic you live in at least so it always seemed 
to me when I was there. Whether it is the same 
now I cannot say, for Leipsic, like most other 
towns, has increased in size since that time. 

I never missed a Gewandhaus Concert if I could 
help it, and when able to do so I availed myself 
of the students' privilege of attending the re- 
hearsals. These, I think, we all enjoyed almost 
better than the concerts, as we heard the orchestra 



STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 45 

to greater advantage. The reason of this was that 
the hall proper of the old Gewandhaus was entirely 
occupied by the subscribers, so that we had to be 
content to hear the music from an ante-room 
which opened into the concert hall, and which was 
dignified by the name of the Small Hall. From 
this hall it was impossible to hear the full tone 
of the orchestra, as it could only reach us through 
a narrow doorway ; in fact, many pianissimo points 
were frequently quite inaudible, and we had there- 
fore to fill in these points either from imagination 
or from memory, if they occurred in a familiar 
composition. 

The rehearsals were very interesting. One 
noticeable feature in them was the distinctive 
part taken by the leader of the first violins. 
Ferdinand David then held this post, and by the 
hints he gave to the violins as regards the bowing 
and other particulars, much of the excellence of 
the orchestral performances at the Gewandhaus 
was due. If he thought the violins weak in any 
passage he would ask the players to repeat it, 
and would make them practise it until they at- 
tained perfection. The leader of the Gewandhaus 
orchestra was therefore something more than a 
name. En passant, it may here be mentioned that 
the late Herr Ludwig Straus, who was well known 
in connexion with the Monday Popular Concerts, 



46 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

when leader of the New Philharmonic orchestra, 
attempted to introduce this custom at one of the 
rehearsals ; but the result was disastrous. A 
passage for the first violins not going so well as 
it should have done, Straus asked the performers 
to play it again. This they patiently did ; but 
still their performance failed to reach the standard 
he desired, so he requested them to try it again, 
and yet again. At length murmurs of displeasure 
were audible, which gradually increased in signifi- 
cance, until the whole orchestra began hissing, so 
that Straus had no alternative but to take up his 
violin and withdraw from the orchestra, which, of 
course, he never entered again. 

It is not surprising that my recollections of the 
Gewandhaus Concerts are teeming with good 
things of the music of the past. At these concerts 
I heard for the first time such pianists as Von 
Biilow and A. Dreyschock, celebrated for his octave 
playing and his marvellous left hand. 1 Some injury 
to his right hand made him unable to use it for 
a period of two years, during which time he 
practised only with his left. Then too I heard 
Madame Schumann, Otto Goldschmidt, Marmontel, 
Jaell, Dupont, Ernest Pauer, Reinecke, and many 
others. 

1 John Cramer, who heard Dreyschock, was so struck with his wonder- 
ful left-hand playing that he said of him : " He has no left hand ; he 
has two right hands." 



STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 47 

Those were the days when pianists did not think 
it beneath them to play a Hummel concerto. 
Pauer frequently chose one, thereby affording an 
opportunity of his fine execution being heard to 
the utmost advantage. Surely it is a pity, if not 
an injustice, that such works should not occasionally 
be revived ; for there is no doubt that Hummel 
did much to advance the technique of pianoforte- 
playing. In this he prepared the ground for the 
bolder and more complicated forms of passages 
used by Chopin and Liszt. 

Among violinists, Joachim's idealistic playing is 
centred in my memory, especially in his rendering 
of the great Beethoven Concerto. 

At one of the chamber concerts given in the 
Gewandhaus I heard him, with Madame Schumann, 
in Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, as well as in the 
C Minor Sonata, op. 63. Their interpretations of 
these beautiful works are among the reminiscences 
1 love to dwell upon. 

Ferdinand David's leading of the string quartets 
at these concerts was a noticeable feature. He 
was the finest exponent of the quartet style of 
violin-playing that I had ever heard. The warmth 
of tone he imparted to his performance of the first- 
violin part in the masterpieces of quartet music 
seemed to instil itself into the other players, so 
that the tout ensemble was a veritable musical treat. 



48 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6* IMPRESSIONS 

He was also one of the most accomplished solo 
violinists of his time, and has left many important 
violin compositions to perpetuate his memory. It 
will be interesting to violinists to know that I lately 
found a photograph of this great player, which 
I had brought back with me from Leipsic. In 
this portrait we see him holding the instrument he 
loved so well. Although under the average height 
he was a distinguished-looking man, with a pleasing 
and open expression of countenance. 

At one of the chamber concerts about which I 
have been speaking, I heard a performance of 
Beethoven's big fugue for strings in B flat, op. 
133. 

I recollect once, after the concert in which this 
fugue had been performed, the late Bernsdorf, the 
celebrated musical critic, speaking to me about 
it, and using in English a very strong and charac- 
teristic expression in condemnation of it. This he 
further emphasized by prefixing to it a word 
frequently used to give vent to one's feelings, and 
commencing with the fourth letter of the alphabet. 

Bernsdorf was an occasional visitor at my aunt's, 
and he often amused us with his remarks on 
musical matters, which he gave in excellent 
English. Although he had never been in England, 
he spoke our language perfectly, possessing not 
only a remarkable command of its idioms, but 



STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 49 

even of its slang expressions. On the other hand, 
Plaidy, who had many more opportunities of 
practising it, having a large number of English 
pupils, was very imperfect in his knowledge of it. I 
remember once my aunt invited Plaidy and his 
mother to spend the evening. Appearing alone, he 
excused his mother's absence on account of indis- 
position, adding by way of explanation, that " old 
womanses is very deliecate " ; the pronunciation and 
accents being given as indicated. This was intended 
to mean that " old women are very delicate." 

It was a great disappointment to me that neither 
Liszt nor Rubinstein ever played at the Gewand- 
haus during my stay at Leipsic, both these great 
men, at that time, having devoted themselves 
almost exclusively to composition. Liszt, however, 
visited Leipsic whilst I was there, and I was 
present when he conducted his fine Graner Mass l 
in the Thomas Kirche. The energy with which he 
wielded his baton on this occasion was remarkable ; 
added to which, he at times became so excited 
that he literally jumped into the air. There was 
one point in the performance that greatly im- 
pressed me. This was the repetition of a note in 
octaves, played by the trumpets, which continued 
through many bars with harmonies that were often 

1 This work was first performed at the consecration of Gran 
Cathedral, 31 August, 1856. 
E 



50 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES &> IMPRESSIONS 

quite foreign to it. One wondered how it could 
be made to fit in with such extraordinary harmonic 
changes. Of course, it was an instance of what 
musicians call an inner pedal point, an effect so 
beloved of Beethoven, but in this case carried to 
the extreme limit. 

I always look back with gratification to the fact 
that Liszt was present at a concert in Leipsic at 
which I played Weber's first Sonata in C. His 
demonstrative appreciation of my performance I 
regard as the greatest compliment I have ever 
received, for I saw him applauding me vigorously 
when I was recalled to the platform. 

Liszt at the time I recollect him was a striking 
personality. His hair was then jet black, and he 
wore it exceedingly long. His hands appeared to 
be large, and his fingers tapering. I should not 
have known him again when, years after, I saw 
him on his last visit to England. 

The first composition of mine published was 
brought out in Leipsic a few months before I 
left, by Kistner's. This was my " Caprice Bril- 
lante." 

It came about in this way. 

I played it at one of the Abendunteraltungen 
of the Conservatorium, as the weekly students' 
concerts of that institution were called. It pleased 
the audience so much that they disregarded the 



STUDENT DAYS AT LEIPSIC 51 

rule against applause, and the late Heir Gurk- 
haus, then head of the firm of Kistner, who was 
present, came up to me after the concert and 
asked me if I would like it to be published. I 
answered in the affirmative, and I subsequently 
enjoyed the particular gratification which comes 
only once in a composer's life, of seeing for the 
first time a composition of my own in print. 

These Abendunteraltungen, to which I have just 
referred, often afforded the students the opportu- 
nity of hearing some celebrated artist of world- 
wide repute, whom the Director, Herr Schleinitz, 
would invite to sing or play after the ordinary 
programme had come to an end. 

I remember on one of these occasions we heard 
\Vilhelmina Schroeder-Devrient. She was, indeed, 
a link with the past of supreme interest, for her 
personality carried us back to one of the most 
eventful epochs in the history of music. It was in 
the time of Beethoven that she was in the zenith 
of her fame, and from all accounts she must have 
been a wonderful singer. Her magnificent render- 
ing of Leonora in " Fidelio " perhaps saved that 
beautiful work from oblivion, as prior to the per- 
formance in which she took part the opera had 
been but coldly received. Beethoven, it is said, 
was so delighted with her singing that after the 
performance he patted her on the cheek, and could 



52 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

not find words strong enough to express his grati- 
tude to her. 

Of course, when we students heard her much of 
the beauty of her voice had faded, but the fire of 
her genius was far from being extinguished. I 
shall never forget the intense passion she infused 
into her rendering of Schumann's grand Lied, "Ich 
grolle nicht." The dramatic force she gave to the 
music thrilled us to such a degree that we could 
scarcely curb our enthusiasm, and she received 
quite an ovation. This occasion was probably the 
last of her triumphs, as she died in the year 1860. 



CHAPTER V 

THE SCHILLER FESTIVAL SAXON 
SWITZERLAND LAST DAYS AT LEIPSIC 



recollections of my Leipsic days are not 
wholly confined to incidents connected with 
music, for I was in this city during the time of 
the Schiller Festival, which was held in com- 
memoration of the centenary of that great poet's 
birth, and which took place in 1859. 

This proved to be a most interesting occasion. 
There were all kinds of public demonstrations, 
inaugurated on a most extensive scale, one of 
them being a procession of emblematical cars 
representing the various trades and professions, 
carried out in a very effective manner. Then, in 
the evening, there was a torchlight procession by 
the students of the University. 

An interesting episode in the Schiller Festival 
was a celebration at Golis, a village near Leipsic, 
where the great poet had lived for some time. 
The house in which he wrote his "Ode to Joy " 
was illuminated, and there was of course a great 

S3 



54 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

crowd to witness all the grand doings. I was 
among the crowd, and found it much easier to 
get in than to get out ; in fact, I felt nearly 
crushed to death before I succeeded in extricating 
myself from its toils. 

The so-called book-fairs of Leipsic were most 
interesting. As a matter of fact, book-fair is a 
misnomer, as the business done on these occasions 
is almost entirely in various kinds of merchandise, 
especially woollen fabrics. These fairs, which were 
held in the market-place, brought merchants and 
traders from all parts of Europe to barter their 
goods one with another, and, as many were accom- 
panied by their wives and families, one had an 
opportunity of seeing no end of curious and 
picturesque national costumes. 

During the time of these fairs Leipsic was full 
to overflowing, so that it was quite a common 
thing for householders to let all their bedrooms 
to some merchant and his family, and for the 
inmates to make shift by sleeping in attics and 
box-rooms, or even in the passages and landings. 
By this means the owners of houses made quite a 
harvest out of the merchants, for exorbitant terms 
were charged to these foreign visitors. 

I ought not to omit giving some account of a 
most agreeable and interesting trip that I took 
with my uncle (John Barnett) and his family to 



SAXON SWITZERLAND 55 

what is known as the Saxon Switzerland. This 
was during one of the summer holidays, when we 
had finished our work at the Conservatorium and 
had plenty of time at our disposal. 

We first visited Dresden, where we stayed two 
days. The first day we went to see the celebrated 
picture gallery. Of course the painting that left 
on us the most lasting impression was the cele- 
brated Sistine Madonna by Raphael. 

This grand masterpiece has a separate room 
devoted entirely to itself. On each side of the 
picture are curtains, which are drawn aside so 
as to disclose what might be thought to represent 
a glimpse into heaven. In the other rooms there 
are to be found no end of Cuyps, Wouvermanns, 
Teniers, and other representatives of the Dutch 
school. But I will dive no deeper into my re- 
collection of the works of art that abound in this 
noble gallery. 

On the day following we were to have visited 
the Green Vaults in the Royal Palace, where the 
crowns that were worn centuries ago by monarchs 
of the past, as well as jewels and other articles of 
vertu, were displayed, we were told, in tempting 
profusion. 

Unfortunately, an unlooked-for incident com- 
pelled us to forgo the pleasure of seeing this 
wonderful collection, for shortly after breakfast 



56 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

our waiter informed us that some one wished to 
see my uncle on important business. After a few 
minutes' absence my uncle returned to tell us that 
he had been summoned to appear at the Politzei, 
or police-court ! The reason the officer gave for 
detaining my uncle was that a man of the name 
of John Barnett had absconded from Hamburg, 
having embezzled a large sum of money, and that 
the description of my uncle and his family was 
almost identical with that of the criminal. 

This strange coincidence spoilt our day, as my 
uncle had to attend the Politzei, and was kept there 
for about four hours, whilst telegrams were being 
sent to London and Leipsic in order that he might 
prove his identity. My cousin Domenico and 
myself accompanied him, and whilst we were 
waiting in the passage we amused ourselves by 
drawing caricatures of the police officials. In that 
harmless manner we gave vent to our wrath at 
having to pass the best part of the day in such 
gloomy surroundings. 

Of course the police in the end had to own their 
mistake, and thought no doubt that by a few 
words of apology they had fully compensated my 
uncle for the disagreeable position in which they 
had placed him. They were probably not a little 
disappointed that he was not the man who was 
" wanted." 



SAXON SWITZERLAND 57 

My recollections of Dresden were somewhat 
spoilt by this unlooked-for incident, but neverthe- 
less the impression it left upon me was very 
marked. 

I was much struck with the bright and cheerful 
character of this city. How pretty is the view 
from the bridge beneath which flows the Elbe. 
Of course the stranger makes the inevitable mis- 
take of attempting to cross the bridge on the 
wrong side, and wonders why he is turned back, 
until he finds that for foot-passengers there is an 
up and a down side flanking the roadway over the 
bridge. 

We left Dresden in one of the little steamers 
that ply up and down the Elbe, and we disem- 
barked at the picturesque town of Schandau, where 
my uncle had engaged apartments. 

I was greatly impressed by the varied character 
of the scenery in Saxon Switzerland. My uncle 
did not consider it so grand as that of North 
Wales ; but I think that Saxon Switzerland con- 
tains a greater number of special effects than 
one finds among the Welsh mountains. The 
Kuhstall is a good example. Passing through 
a tunnelled cavern not far from the summit of 
this mountain, you find yourself on a terrace or 
balcony formed of rock, commanding a splendid 
bird's-eye view of the mountain range. The 



58 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

absence here of any foliage, whilst giving a wild 
grandeur to the scene, no doubt affords an oppor- 
tunity for an excellent echo. 

I rather think that it is this particular echo 
which is celebrated for giving the facetious answer 
to the question, " Wer ist der Burghermeister von 
Oberwesel ? " (" Who is the mayor of Ober- 
wesel?") The answer returned by the echo is 
invariably "Esel," which means, as every one 
knows, "Ass ! " ; for only the last two syllables of 
Oberwesel can be heard, the first part being 
drowned by one's own voice. Of course we all 
tried the effect, and were much amused at the 
clear way in which the echo gave out the " Esel." 

This reminds me of a good witticism in one 
of the German comic prints. The scene de- 
picted is on the side of a mountain, which a 
tourist and his guide are ascending. The guide 
says to the tourist, " There is a capital echo here ; 
you just try it. Call out, * Holen Sie mir ein Glas 
Bier.'" ("Fetch me a glass of beer.") This the 
tourist does in stentorian tones, and after waiting 
an absurd time for a possible echo, he turns to the 
guide, saying, " I do not hear anything." 

" Have a little patience," says the guide. " Look, 
here it comes," and so indeed it does. For from 
a little refreshment cabin on a plateau on the 
mountain-side, which the guide was well aware of, 



SAXON SWITZERLAND 59 

a man is seen descending with a glass of beer, 
which the tourist of course gives to the guide as 
a reward for his cunning. 

During my stay at Schandau, as there was no 
Catholic church nearer than Niedergrund, a quaint 
little village in Bohemia, I used to go there by 
train every Sunday morning. It was quite a short 
railway ride across the frontier which divides 
Saxony from Bohemia ; but I found, on arriving at 
Niedergrund, that I was obliged to show my pass- 
port and leave it with the station-master to have 
it vizeed and stamped, previous to its being given 
up on the return journey. This little piece of red- 
tapism was duly carried out each Sunday that I 
went to and came from Niedergrund. From this it 
would appear that the government official is in- 
capable of recognizing any one, however often he 
may have seen the individual. 

Niedergrund is quite close to a charming bit of 
the river Elbe. The pines here grow close to the 
water's edge, from which they climb to the summit 
of a steep mountain. The water is of a lovely 
deep blue, reflecting the sombre tints of the pine 
wood. The village was, and probably is still, a 
most primitive place, and the architecture of the 
church was both simple and unpretentious. 

I noticed that the congregation waited outside 
until the arrival of the priest. Then when he had 



60 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

entered the congregation followed him, and took 
their places. 

The music was as primitive as the building, yet 
there was actually an attempt at an orchestra. 
The impression most strongly left upon me by 
this attempt was the tuning of the stringed instru- 
ments. They seemed to be constantly getting out 
of tune. In listening to those rustic musicians 
one could not help noting the similarity of their 
rude efforts in ensemble playing to the clever 
musical joke of Mozart, known as, " Ein musikal- 
ische Spass." Probably now that American organs 
are so cheap, one of these will have taken the place 
of this crude village orchestra. 

During our stay at Schandau, we made numerous 
excursions to the principal places around, but as 
a description of these can easily be found in a 
continental guide-book, I do not propose giving 
an account of them ; more especially, as our 
excursions went smoothly and without incident. 
If one of our party had been struck by lightning, 
or another had fallen over a precipice, I should, of 
course, have had something exciting to relate ; but 
as the nation that has no history is a happy one, 
so the tourist who has nothing particularly tragic 
to narrate is to be congratulated. 

One of the most interesting events that took 
place whilst I was in Germany was the unveiling 



LAST DAYS AT LEIPSIC 61 

of a statue of Handel in 1859 at his birthplace, 
Halle, 1 

This proved to be quite a festive occasion. A 
number of the students from the Leipsic Con- 
servatorium, myself among the number, took part 
in the ceremony. We were likewise present at a 
performance of " Samson," the work of Handel 
which was selected to represent the king of 
oratorio composers. The performance was very 
impressive; but I think the choice of the "Messiah," 
as Handel's most representative work, would have 
been more appropriate. 

Some minor episodes connected with my stay in 
Leipsic I will speak of later on. But I must not 
close this chapter without reference to my ap- 
pearance as a pianist at the Gewandhaus Concert, 
which took place on 22 March, 1860. 

As I had hi the first instance come to Germany 
in the hope of playing at one of these concerts, 
had I returned to England without having done 
so, I should have felt that I had failed in ac- 
complishing the principal object I had in view. 
On the evening of the concert I proved to be in 
good form, and, on appearing before the critical 
audience, met with a most favourable reception. 
The concerto 1 played was Mendelssohn's D 
Minor, a work for which I had always had a great 

1 This was to celebrate the centenary of the composer's death. 



62 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES <Sr> IMPRESSIONS 

affection. At the conclusion, I received a hearty 
recall, and my performance was well spoken of in 
the subsequent press notices. This concert was 
one of the last conducted by Julius Rietz at the 
Gewandhaus. A few days after it had taken place 
I left for England, and that very same week Rietz, 
having accepted the post of conductor of the opera 
at Dresden, quitted Leipsic for good. 



CHAPTER VI 

REAPPEARANCE IN ENGLAND THE 
PHILHARMONIC AND MY FIRST CONCERT 

i~\F course, returning to England was quite an 
V event for me, for I had never been so long 
away from home. It was just a question before I 
left Leipsic, whether I should have arranged to 
prolong my stay for another year. Schleinitz the 
Director of the Conservatorium did all he could 
to persuade me to do so; but having promised Dr. 
Wylde to appear at the New Philharmonic Con- 
certs, I determined upon adhering to my original 
plan. 

I returned via Calais and Dover,, after a rather 
rough passage, for which, being always a good sailor, 
I was none the worse. Nothing extraordinary 
occurred on the journey, but on my way from 
Folkestone to London, when the collector came 
round for tickets I could not find mine anywhere, 
and I had my fare to pay over again. It was only 
when the collector had departed that 1 remembered 
having placed the ticket in one of my bags. 

63 



64 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES <2r> IMPRESSIONS 

A few days after I arrived in London I played 
the so-called Emperor Concerto of Beethoven at 
the New Philharmonic Concert which took place 
on 16 April, 1860. At the rehearsal my hands were 
cold, and I was not satisfied with my playing ; but 
at the performance it went very well, and I met 
with all the encouragement I could have wished 
for from the audience. At the last New Philhar- 
monic Concert of that season, I played again by 
request, choosing the same concerto of Mendels- 
sohn in which I made my first appearance at these 
concerts. 

I was now fully launched as a pianist, and the 
following season, besides performing again at the 
New Philharmonic, I was engaged to play at one 
of the concerts of the Musical Society. 

This Society marked, for the time being, an 
important era in the musical history of London. 
The subscribers consisted almost entirely of pro- 
fessional musicians. Alfred Mellon, one of the 
race of accomplished English orchestral conductors, 
the line of which is so admirably continued at the 
present day by such men as Sir Charles Stanford, 
Frederic Cowen, and Henry J. Wood, was the 
conductor of these concerts, and the orchestra 
attained a great reputation under his direction. 

The concerto I was asked to play was that of 
Mozart in C, one of the simpler specimens of that 



THE PHILHARMONIC MY FIRST CONCERT 65 

composer's works in this form of writing. I was 
rather disappointed at the choice, as it gave no 
opportunity for the execution of passages of great 
difficulty. Mozart, however, is never quite easy to 
render. The very simplicity of the passages calls 
for the utmost refinement of touch. The public, 
however, do not quite appreciate difficulties of this 
nature, as they want occasionally to be excited by 
surprising feats of bravura. I was, nevertheless, 
able, in the cadenza which I wrote for the first 
movement, to introduce many passages requiring a 
good deal of brilliancy of execution, and that 
without writing out of the Mozart character. 

I may here state that the Committee of the 
Musical Society did not give me much time to get 
up the concerto ; in fact, I received the letter en- 
gaging me to play it only three weeks before the con- 
cert, which was arranged to take place on 10 April, 
1861. This was sharp work indeed, for I had never 
even seen or heard the concerto, as it is one rarely 
chosen by pianists. I had, therefore, to get it up 
from memory and write a cadence in three weeks, 
or probably less. Notwithstanding these dis- 
advantages, I am glad to say that fortune favoured 
me. The concerto went well and made all the 
effect I could have desired. 

I had not yet appeared at the historic Philhar- 
monic Society, but the same year, I received an 



66 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES <& IMPRESSIONS 

engagement to play Beethoven's C minor Concerto 
at the concert arranged for 10 June, 1861. Stern- 
dale Bennett conducted, and the orchestral ac- 
companiments were, throughout, very neatly and 
beautifully rendered. 

The space Beethoven has left for the cadenza in 
the first movement I filled in with one 1 wrote 
specially for this performance, which I hope one 
day to publish. 

The following season I was again engaged to 
play at the Philharmonic, when I chose the E flat 
of Beethoven. Both these concerts took place at 
the Hanover Square Rooms, for the Society had 
not then migrated to St. James's Hall. 

There was something very social about the 
Philharmonics during the time they were held at 
these rooms. In the interval between the parts 
many of the subscribers took the opportunity to 
leave their seats and promenade the spacious cor- 
ridors that adjoined the concert room. I invari- 
ably followed their example, and in this way I fre- 
quently met with celebrities of the musical world 
whom otherwise I might never have come across. 
Amongst them I recollect Charles Neate, then 
well advanced in years, who had been the most 
famous English pianist of his day. It was he who 
played Beethoven's Concertos in C minor and E 
flat for the first time in England. Sometimes I 



THE PHILHARMONIC MY FIRST CONCERT 67 

met Vincent Wallace, the composer of "Maritana" 
and other operas. I ought not to forget to mention 
also that it was in the Hanover Square Rooms, at 
a Philharmonic concert, I heard Madame Schumann 
play her husband's concerto, then quite new to an 
English audience. 

Besides the concerts which I took part in, I gave 
one yearly myself. The first of these took place at 
St. James's Hall with full orchestra, at which Ole 
Bull, a celebrated Swedish violinist, played ; Sims 
Reeves sang in Purcell's " Come if you dare," with 
chorus and orchestra ; and I performed a concerto, 
conducted by Dr. Wylde. 

At one of my concerts Carlotta Patti appeared. 
She was celebrated as a soprano for the high range 
of her compass, as she could take the F above the 
staff with perfect ease and great purity of tone. 
For my chamber concerts I wrote my Trio in C 
minor, I also produced my quartet in D minor and 
my Quintet in G minor for strings. 

In 1862 I was present at a most interesting 
celebration. This was the Jubilee of the Philhar- 
monic Society, when it attained its fiftieth anni- 
versary. The concert took place in Exeter Hall, 
and gave me an opportunity of hearing Jenny 
Lind once more. She sang on this occasion in 
Mendelssohn's Psalm, " Hear my prayer." I shall 
never forget the religious fervour she threw into 



68 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

the music allied to the words, " Oh, for the wings 
of a dove." This was the last time I heard her in 
public. 

It is curious to carry one's recollection back to 
this concert, and at the same time to know that in 
a few years the Society will be celebrating another 
jubilee its hundredth anniversary. Thanks to 
the energy of past directors like the late Walter 
Macfarren and Charles Stephens, as well as the 
self-sacrifice in the cause of musical art shown by 
such men as Dr. Cummings, Francesco Berger, and 
Charles Gardener, it has tided over many a shoal 
that would surely have wrecked any other musical 
craft less well piloted. The Philharmonic, in fact, 
stands alone as the only concert society in 
London, instituted during the last century, which 
still remains as a glorious record of music both 
past and present. 

Before proceeding farther, I ought not here 
to omit stating that one of the first professional 
engagements I entered upon, after my return from 
Leipsic, was the resuming of my organ duties at 
the church of St. Aloysius, Somers Town, which 
I gave up when I went to Germany. My father 
was still the conductor and solo tenor ; and I 
found the choir had increased in numbers and 
efficiency. 

At this period ladies were allowed to sing in 



THE PHILHARMONIC MY FIRST CONCERT 69 

Catholic churches in London, which gave us an 
opportunity of engaging well-known artists to 
represent the soprano and contralto solo parts in 
the Masses. Thus, about the year 1863, for some 
months Madame Rudersdorff, the celebrated oper- 
atic prima donna, was our soprano. She was invalu- 
able ; for not only did she sing in the solos, but led 
the soprano part of the chorus as well. The way in 
which she took the high notes, with such unerring 
precision and beauty of tone, quite made us thrill 
with musical joy. She seemed to soar above the 
other sopranos, as though the voice of an angel 
from above had joined them. Then we had for 
our bass singer Mr. W. H. Weiss, the Elijah of 
the Birmingham Festivals, the finest bass voice 
of that period. We were thus able to give an 
effective rendering of the Masses of the great 
composers, these works of beauty, in which 
melody and harmony combine to emphasize the 
sacred words that are sung, filling our souls with 
religious fervour and devotion. 

During the latter period of my engagement 
at our church, we were fortunate in having the 
advantage of hearing the mellow notes of Miss 
Bessie Palmer, who was our contralto for a few 
years. 

Among the congregation who attended at this 
church was a distinguished composer and violinist ; 



70 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

no less a person than Bernard Molique, of conti- 
nental reputation. I often saw him after Mass, 
and, as nearly all my voluntaries and postludes 
were extemporaneous, I was much gratified at his 
kindly remarks about them. He took a great 
interest in our choir, and he wrote a Mass 
especially for us, which we performed for the 
first time one Sunday. A very favourable 
notice of it appeared on the following Satur- 
day in the "Athenaeum"; for Chorley, the critic, 
came specially to our church to hear the new 
Mass. 

Molique, although he had been so long in 
England, never mastered the difficulties of our 
language. He often used to narrate in his broken 
English a little incident that occurred when he 
made his first appearance as a juryman. He said 
that the usher of the court, on reading over the 
names of those summoned, called out in a loud 
voice, " Mr. Moliky." 

This mispronunciation of his name, Molique 
treated with silent contempt. "I deed not 
answer," he told us. " Mr. Moliky ! " again 
shouted the usher. Still Molique was silent. 

"Mr. Moliky! Mr. Moliky!" was echoed 
through the court. 

Then arose Molique, and quietly said : " My 
name is not Moliky but Molique," giving the 



THE PHILHARMONIC MY FIRST CONCERT 71 

foreign pronunciation of the i that acute effect 
so noticeable in foreign tongues. 

Molique appeared to be quite delighted at the 
discomfiture of the usher, who I expect revenged 
himself by contriving to include Molique among 
the number of the jury. 

Although in no way connected with music, it 
may not be out of place here to narrate a little 
incident which occurred somewhere in the 
sixties. 

At that time my only brother, William, was 
living, and it happened that he had accompanied 
me to Southend, where we had gone for a short 
holiday. One day we hired a small boat, with the 
object of rowing out beyond the pier, which is 
a mile and a quarter in length. The sea was then 
as smooth as a sheet of glass, so that we considered 
it quite safe to choose a small and light boat. We 
had rowed up to the end of the pier, and were 
about to pass beyond it, when a boatman, who was 
standing on one of the landing-places, called out to 
us, and asked us whether we would mind taking him 
in our boat and rowing him to another one, which 
was anchored somewhere near the shore. 

I was not altogether pleased with this request, 
as it interfered with our plans. However, I con- 
sented to it, and took the boatman with us. It 
was fortunate for us that I did not refuse ; for a 



72 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

few moments after he had entered our boat a 
sudden squall arose, and in an incredibly short 
space of time the sea became so rough, that I felt 
sure that, without the aid of the boatman, my 
brother and myself, inexperienced as we were, 
would never have been able to have kept our little 
craft from being swamped. It seemed, indeed, 
quite providential that this boatman should have 
appeared on the scene just in time to avert a 
disaster. 



CHAPTER VII 
"THE ANCIENT MARINER" 

"TvURING the years that I was so much 
^r engaged in playing in public I did not 
altogether neglect composition, as in addition to 
the pieces I wrote for my chamber concerts, I 
worked at a symphony, as well as at my oratorio, 
" The Raising of Lazarus." 

Somewhere about the year 1863, the Musical 
Society of London announced giving trials of new 
orchestral compositions. For these they engaged 
an excellent orchestra, and appointed a small com- 
mittee of well-known musicians to choose the 
works. I accordingly sent in my symphony, 
which was then finished, and together with other 
compositions it was selected for performance at 
one of these orchestral trials. Subsequently it 
had the good fortune to be included in the pro- 
gramme of the Society's concert for June 15, 
1864. And hi the ensuing whiter season August 
Manns introduced it at the Crystal Palace Satur- 
day Concerts. 

73 



74 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

The favourable manner in which my symphony 
was received was probably one of the reasons 
that induced the Committee of the Birmingham 
Musical Festival to ask me to write a cantata for 
the Festival of 1867. 

Curiously enough, about two years prior to this 
date I had seen a copy of Noel Paton's illustra- 
tions to Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner " at a friend's 
house. I am ashamed to say that, at the time, 
although a lover of poetry, I had never read this 
particular poem. Noel Paton's drawings made a 
great impression upon me by their weird character, 
and thus gave me the idea that the "Rime of 
the Ancient Mariner " would be a splendid subject 
for a cantata. But I had a notion then that the 
cantata style would not suit me, for I thought, of 
all forms of composition, it would be the most 
unlikely style that I should ever attempt to write 
in. When, however, 1 received the letter from the 
chairman of the Birmingham Festival, Colonel 
Mason, commissioning me to write a work for 
the Festival, my ambition was fired. And well it 
might have been ; for had I not heard the gorgeous 
orchestra and chorus of a Birmingham Festival 
about two years before, the memory of which 
seemed to be awakened afresh in me on receiving 
this welcome letter. 

This Festival of 1864 was the first at which I 



"THE ANCIENT MARINER" 75 

was ever present, and I was fortunate in having 
the free entree to all the performances through the 
kindness of Madame Rudersdorff, whose influence 
was thus beneficially exerted in my favour. 

The memory, therefore, of this wonderful week 
came back to me vividly on receiving the commis- 
sion to write a cantata ; so that I felt it was an 
opportunity not to be thrown away. But I had 
my misgivings. I have already said how slow I 
was at composing. Judging by the time I usually 
took over a composition, three years would not 
have been too long a period for me to have 
allowed myself for such a work. Would it be 
possible for me to get it ready in time ? 

As I had received the commission from the 
Festival Committee in November, 1866, and the 
chorus parts would be required in March, I was 
left only four months to complete the cantata. 

I decided, notwithstanding, to accept the com- 
mission. 

Then as to the libretto. Of course, the recollec- 
tion of Noel Paton's illustrations made me think 
of the " Ancient Mariner." But I had not even 
then read the poem, nor had I a copy of Coleridge's 
works in the house. I sent to procure one, and 
my cousin, Joseph Barnett, who happened to be 
staying with us, read aloud the poem to me, while 
my father, mother, and my sisters were present. 



76 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6* IMPRESSIONS 

I was, as might have been expected, deeply 
impressed with it, but had my doubts as to 
its suitability for music. At first sight the 
Mariner's narrative appeared to be more appro- 
priate for a scena of inordinate length than for 
a cantata. This difficulty had probably deterred 
composers from taking the subject for music. Not- 
withstanding this, I arrived at the conclusion that 
it was quite reasonable to consider the chorus and 
solo voices in the light of the reciters of the poem ; 
in other words, I proposed to write a work that 
would be a musical reading of Coleridge's verses. 

The theoretical question having been disposed 
of, I looked at the poem with an eye to its musical 
possibilities. At first, I thought it appeared too 
gloomy for effective treatment, and also the words 
in many cases seemed to be scarcely suited for 
musical treatment. Nevertheless, I determined 
upon making an attempt; and that same evening 
sat down at the piano with the volume open before 
me. 

The phrase with which the basses and tenors 
enter : 

" It is an ancient Mariner, 
And he stoppeth one of three," 

came to me quite easily, and I was delighted to 
find that the words went well to music, and their 
metre suitable to any kind of musical rhythm. 



"THE ANCIENT MARINER" 77 

Having once found an opening phrase, I dis- 
covered that the verses assisted my ideas so well, 
that before I gave up for the evening I had com- 
pleted not only the preliminary recitatives, but 
the sketch of the first chorus, "The ship was 
cheered," which contains the initial melody of the 
cantata. 

Never before had I composed with such facility. 
The sketch thenceforward developed rapidly, and 
my doubts about finishing the work in time for the 
festival were to a great extent relieved. 

Still there was the instrumentation to be taken 
into account. The sketch of a cantata by itself 
would be of no use to a festival. I knew what a 
time-taking thing orchestration was, and how 
dangerous it would be to leave it until too late. 
I therefore, with as little delay as possible, com- 
menced that all-important part of my work. 

In order to gain time, I used to rise each morn- 
ing before six, make myself an impromptu break- 
fast, and then work at the instrumentation for over 
two hours before going to my teaching engage- 
ments. 

On my journeys I often carried with me a copy 
of Coleridge, in order to select those parts of the 
" Ancient Mariner " best suited to the cantata. 

The selections and arrangement of the words 
were in themselves rather difficult tasks. The whole 



78 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

poem it would have been impossible to take, not 
only on account of its length, but likewise owing 
to many of its verses being unsuitable for music. 
The episode of the phantom ship I decided upon 
omitting altogether. On the margin of the poem 
I marked out the disposition of the musical 
numbers, as to whether they should be for solo or 
chorus. Those portions of the poem where the 
individuality of the Mariner is most prominent 
I allotted to the baritone. In this manner, I was 
able to avail myself of certain opportunities of a 
dramatic character, as for example, at the point 
where the wedding-guest interrupts the old sailor 
with the words : 

" God save thee, ancient Mariner ! 
From the fiends, that plague thee thus ! 
Why look'st thou so ? " 

And he replies : 

" With my cross-bow 
I shot the albatross." 

I have given the words of the wedding-guest to 
the tenor, and those of the Mariner, as just stated, 
to the baritone. 

Such episodes of a dramatic character I found 
very useful in giving relief to the generally de- 
scriptive tone of the poem. 

The modern idea as to the method of writing 
such works as cantatas and oratorios, is that they 



"THE ANCIENT MARINER* 1 79 

should be composed of scenes, in which the music 
runs on without coming to any finish until the end 
of a scene is reached. That this system in a 
dramatic work is a great gain is undeniable ; but 
its advantages in a descriptive cantata are not so 
obvious. 

One reason why I found the " Rime of the 
Ancient Mariner " so adapted for separate numbers 
was, that the poet generally describes one subject 
at a time without introducing desultory matter. 
Thus : 

" About, about, in reel and rout 
The death-fires danced at night," 

pictures a weird scene, and gives scope for the 
composer writing in a given style ; in this case 
somewhat in the style of incantation music. Another 
advantage I found in regard to the words, is that 
they allow of judicious repetition according to the 
exigencies of the music. 

The theory which places a ban against the 
repetition of words would shut out of the field and 
render impossible some of the greatest efforts of 
musical art, as for example, such sublime choruses 
as Handel's " He sent a thick darkness " and " He 
gave them hailstones for rain." One of the special 
advantages in vocal music is, that it enables a com- 
poser to dwell upon and intensify some char- 
acteristic subject. Without repetition of words, 



80 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

this in many cases is impossible. Then again, in 
choral writing, counterpoint would be impracticable 
without one part repeating the words that another 
voice has previously enunciated. As a matter of 
fact, for the writing of choral fugues or other con- 
trapuntal devices, a few words which the audience 
can easily recollect are the most available. This 
style of writing no doubt leads to some strange 
anomalies. Thus, whilst one part is singing a 
certain set of words, another part is frequently 
singing quite a different sentence ; the two sets of 
words more or less clashing with one another, 
Such discrepancies in art are not confined to music 
alone. It might, for example, be said that in 
a picture of a battle, or any other subject re- 
presenting figures in motion, the figures should 
move as they do in a kinematograph, and that, 
therefore, their remaining stationary is an ab- 
surdity. 

Something has to be left to the imagination in 
every art, and in this respect music is not an ex- 
ception. 

Although I cannot say that in writing "The 
Ancient Mariner" I used leitmotiven in the 
Wagnerian sense, I did not lose sight of them 
altogether ; for whenever the poetic theme admits 
some musical phrase is allied to it. Thus there are 
about seven leitmotiven of this kind, which form 



"THE ANCIENT MARINER" 81 

connecting links with different portions of the 
cantata. 

During the composition of the greater part of 
the music my ideas came to me as easily as they 
did in the opening chorus, but there were some 
exceptions. Thus the quartet, " Around, around, 
flew each sweet sound," gave me a great deal of 
trouble. Indeed, I wrote first one quartet, then 
another, and fully worked them out ; both of which 
I rejected. My third attempt was more fortunate, 
and is the one I included in the work. 
i_ In spite of these delays, however, I was able to 
send in the choral parts for rehearsal in the March 
preceding the Festival, and a few weeks later I was 
asked to conduct a rehearsal myself. 

I was glad to find that the chorus had entered 
thoroughly into the spirit of the music, and 1 was 
charmed with the breadth of tone and beauty of 
the voices, as well as with the precision of attack 
that they had acquired under the guidance of their 
accomplished choirmaster, Mr. W. Stockley. I 
heard that same evening the rehearsal of portions 
of Sterndale Bennett's "Woman of Samaria," 
which was to be performed at the same Festival, 
and I was much struck with the beauty of the 
choral writing. 

A few weeks before the London orchestral re- 
hearsals, which took place at the end of July, 



82 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES &> IMPRESSIONS 

I called upon Sir Michael Costa, with the object of 
asking him to conduct my cantata. Costa at this 
time occupied ja unique position in the musical 
world, and was looked upon as the king of con- 
ductors. No wonder, therefore, that whilst making 
my way to his house in Eccleston Square I felt as 
if I were about to lay a petition before a prince. 
The great conductor received me very kindly, and 
asked me to play over my cantata to him. He 
heard it all through ; and although he made one or 
two suggestions, it evidently took his fancy. On 
asking him if he would conduct it, he replied that 
he had made it a rule never to undertake that 
office in regard to a composer's work on its first 
performance. This resolution had been arrived at 
in consequence of an unfortunate misunderstand- 
ing between him and Sterndale Bennett, which 
occurred at a Philharmonic rehearsal of a new 
overture by the latter that Sir Michael was con- 
ducting. It was therefore arranged that I should 
myself conduct the performance of my work. 

As I had never undertaken such a duty before, 
I prepared myself for doing so by studying the 
subject from Berlioz's directions in his work on 
instrumentation. I likewise frequently beat time 
with a pencil for a baton, whilst giving my pupils 
their lessons, by which means I acquired familiar- 
ity with the different kinds of methods suitable 



"THE ANCIENT MARINER 1 ' 83 

for , various rhythms. Thus it was that when I 
rehearsed my cantata no one would believe that 
1 was conducting an orchestra for the first time. 

Previous to the orchestral rehearsal I went 
through the arias and recitatives of the work with 
the singers to whom the solos had been allotted. 
The artists selected for my cantata were Mile. 
Titiens, Madame Patey, Mr. Sims Reeves, and 
Mr. Santley. This afforded me an opportunity of 
becoming personally acquainted with them. 

I rehearsed the soprano solo part of the cantata 
more frequently with Titiens than with the other 
singers, as, .notwithstanding her wonderful powers 
of voice, she was somewhat slow in taking in new 
ideas ; but I found her most patient, and ever 
ready to listen to what I suggested. I enjoyed 
these rehearsals with this gifted singer immensely. 
Her beautiful house and garden in Grove End 
Road lent a charm to her surroundings. 

As regards the contralto solos it had been 
arranged that Madame Sainton-Dolby should have 
sung them, but she found the aria, " O sleep it is ( 
a gentle thing," too high for her voice, so the part 
was transferred to Madame Patey, whom it suited 
quite well. The baritone music, although high, 
lay excellently within Mr. Santley 's compass. 

With Sims Reeves I had some difficulty in 
regard to the music allotted to him ; for on trying 



84 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

it through with me at his house at Norwood, he 
said that most of the recitatives were too high for 
him. I accordingly went through them with him, 
and made numerous alterations so as to bring the 
compass down to what he required. I was sorry 
for this, because these alterations interfered very 
much with the character of the music, and the 
cantata being then printed, I foresaw that it would 
appear strange for him to be singing different 
notes to those in the copy. I think that he, in the 
end, must likewise have taken this view of the case ; 
because at the performance I was surprised to find 
that he sang the recitatives exactly as they were 
printed, and probably was then singing them at 
sight, as he was never present at any of the rehear- 
sals ; on those occasions the tenor solos had been 
taken by Mr. (now Dr.) W. H. Cummings. 

It was only by the merest chance that Sims 
Reeves put in an appearance at the performance ; 
for in the morning he found his voice was not in 
good order, and therefore resolved not to sing ; 
but by the persuasion of the friends with whom he 
was staying, he was induced, notwithstanding his 
fears, to fulfil his engagement. Whether or not 
the music suited him better than he imagined, it is 
very certain that it seemed to have a most salutary 
effect upon his voice ; for at the performance he 
never sang more beautifully. 



"THE ANCIENT MARINER" 85 

Mr. Santley gave a wonderful reading of the 
baritone music, and one could almost imagine, 
whilst listening to him, that it was the Ancient 
Mariner himself telling us of his supernatural and 
mysterious voyage. Titiens in the soprano solo and 
chorus, " This seraph band," sang divinely, so pure 
were her notes ; and justified the opinion formed 
by all who heard her, that hers was the grandest 
soprano voice of the nineteenth century. The C 
sharp in alt, which she reached in the concluding 
notes of the cantata, seemed to soar above the great 
orchestra and chorus in a truly wonderful manner. 

Never had the Birmingham Town Hall been 
more crowded than it was on the occasion of the 
first performance of the cantata, 1 nor could the 
audience have been more sympathetic in their 
reception of a new composition. During the pro- 
gress of the work, which I conducted, I felt quite 
calm and collected, and was able to keep the grand 
forces I had command over under perfect control. 

Even now, after so many years, the recollection 
of my first appearance at this Festival comes before 
me with lifelike reality. I well remember the 
feeling of suspense I experienced whilst waiting 
my turn to ascend the platform. I recall, too, the 
warm greeting with which the audience welcomed 
me, as well as the glow of excitement I felt when 

1 This took place at the eveniug concert of the Festival on 
29 August, 1867. 



86 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6r> IMPRESSIONS 

I saw before me the grand chorus and orchestra 
of a Birmingham Festival. 

What a volume of sound is produced by these 
instruments and choristers, as sonorous and mellow 
when it swells to some glorious climax, as when 
subdued to the hush of & pianissimo. I had many 
opportunities of noting these points of excellence, 
for in addition to Mendelssohn's " Elijah," I heard 
his less frequently performed oratorio " St. Paul." 
Then I was present at Handel's "Israel in Egypt " 
and his "Alexander's Feast." Benedict's "Legend 
of St. Cecilia " was also given, and was conducted 
by its composer. This struck me as being his 
finest work. Sterndale Bennett's " Woman of 
Samaria " quite fulfilled the expectations I formed 
of it when I heard it in rehearsal. Although 
Bennett was present, the work was conducted by 
W. G. Cusins, and it made a great impression. 
The "Messe Solennelle" one of the first com- 
positions that brought Gounod to the notice of 
the English public found a prominent place in 
the programme. 

The kindness and attention I received during this 
Festival is stamped indelibly upon my memory. 
The members of the Committee vied with one 
another in their generous hospitality. 



CHAPTER VIII 

AMONG THE CHORAL SOCIETIES 

TN the ensuing season 1868 of the Crystal 
-*- Palace, " The Ancient Mariner " was included 
in the programme of one of the Saturday concerts. 
The cantata was also performed that same year at 
St. James's Hall, with a chorus selected principally 
from the Crystal Palace choir and the Handel 
Festival chorus. This, together with an orchestra 
which numbered upwards of eighty performers, I 
found almost too large for the platform of the hall. 
The chorus took up so much room that it was 
with considerable difficulty that the instrumental- 
ists could be squeezed in. 

My cousins, Clara and Rosamund, the talented 
daughters of John Barnett, of whom I have 
already spoken, sang the soprano and contralto 
music very charmingly. It was their first appear- 
ance in London after their return from Italy, 
where they had been singing in opera under the 
nom de plume of "Doria." This name they 
retained at their debut, and they were known in 

87 



88 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

the musical world as the Sisters Doria. The 
baritone part was on this occasion taken by Mr. 
Lewis Thomas. 

The cantata was also included in the programme 
of the Worcester Festival of that year, when Titiens 
again sang the soprano solos. 

It is indeed gratifying to know that my "Ancient 
Mariner " has been given, at some time or another, 
by all the leading choral societies throughout the 
land, and that it is still in as great request as ever. 

Fortunately for the composers of cantatas and 
works of a similar character, there are few towns 
that do not possess a choral society ; nay, even 
villages seem able to collect voices in sufficient 
numbers to form a chorus. For where there is a 
church there will be sure to be an amateur choir, 
membership of which becomes sought after to 
such a degree that the village schoolroom has to 
be utilized for rehearsals, and thus the local choral 
society buds forth into existence. As a rule, the 
organist of the church is the conductor, and he 
finds that the rehearsals, for which he voluntarily 
gives his services, vary the monotony of his duties 
at the church and elsewhere. Then, not only are 
sacred works practised, but the secular cantata is 
introduced, and in due time performances are 
given for such praiseworthy objects as the repair- 
ing of the church or the purchasing of a new organ. 



AMONG THE CHORAL SOCIETIES 89 

The love of choral singing is a healthy sign in 
our national character, and one that should be en- 
couraged by all who value musical art. 

As I have been frequently called upon to con- 
duct performances of my "Ancient Mariner," I 
have with that object visited many important 
musical centres, such as Nottingham, Lincoln, and 
Liverpool. At the last-named city I conducted a 
fine performance of the cantata at the Liverpool 
Philharmonic, where it has since, more than once, 
been placed in the programme of that representa- 
tive society. 

Sometimes I have been invited to be present at 
performances of the work. 

I recollect hearing it at one of the concerts of 
the Highbury Philharmonic. It had on that 
occasion the advantage of being conducted by 
that accomplished and erudite musician, Dr. (now 
Sir Frederick) Bridge. With the fine choir and 
excellent orchestra at the disposal of the con- 
ductor, it can readily be imagined that a perfect 
rendering of the cantata was a foregone conclu- 
sion. Then, too, among the solo singers was Edward 
Lloyd, who sang " Down dropt the Breeze " with 
exquisite pathos ; whilst the silvery tones of his 
voice in "The Harbour Bay" sounded, indeed, 
" as clear as glass." 

Another performance of the work occurs to my 



90 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

memory. This took place a year or two after its 
production at the Birmingham Festival. The per- 
formance itself was on a small scale, but indirectly 
it gave me an opportunity of being introduced to 
one of the most prominent men in the literary 
world. It was at the little town or village of 
Crawley, on the Brighton line, that the cantata 
was given, and after the concert, I went with my 
friend Mr. Frank Homer to the house of Mark 
Lemon, who lived close by, where I found quite a 
family party assembled. We all spent a merry 
evening, and it did me good to see how sympa- 
thetically Mark Lemon entered into the enjoy- 
ment of his children and their friends. The then 
editor of " Punch " was a portly and striking 
figure, almost patriarchal in his appearance. One 
of his daughters was married to a son of Frank 
Romer, so that the two families were on very in- 
timate terms. 

It may here incidentally be mentioned that 
Mr. Frank Romer was a partner in the firm of 
Hutchings and Romer, who originally published 
my "Ancient Mariner." In later years it was ac- 
quired by the firm of Novello &; Co. who brought 
out a full score of the cantata. 



CHAPTER IX 

"PARADISE AND THE PERI 11 

HHHE next work I wrote after the "Ancient 
-*- Mariner " was my " Ouverture Symphonique," 
which I dedicated to the Philharmonic Society of 
London, and it was produced at one of their con- 
certs on 11 May, 1868. I named it "Ouverture 
Symphonique " as I considered the music to be 
symphonic in character. This overture was again 
performed by the Philharmonic Society on 28 May, 
1891, the same concert at which Paderewski made 
his second appearance at this Society. 

It was in 1869 that I introduced my Concerto 1 
in D Minor at a New Philharmonic concert. This 
work had been written after a short tour that I 
took in Wales ; I might therefore have called it my 
Welsh Concerto, as I think the invigorating effect 
of the Welsh scenery may have influenced me 
when writing it. 

That same year, whilst I was on a visit at 

1 This concerto was likewise performed by my sister, Emma Barnett, 
at one of the Saturday Concerts at the Crystal Palace. 



92 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

Tunbridge Wells during the summer holidays, 
I received a letter from Mr. Richard Peyton, who 
was then the chairman of the Orchestral Com- 
mittee of the Birmingham Festival, asking me 
whether I had a new cantata ready, as the com- 
mittee was desirous of having another work of 
mine for the festival of 1870. Unfortunately, 
I had nothing then available ; I wrote, therefore, 
in reply, that I believed I should be able to write 
a cantata in time for the festival, and would, later 
on, give particulars as to the subject I would 
select. 

The choice of subject proved to be a difficult 
problem to me. There was, as in the case of the 
Festival of 1867, no time for me to have a libretto 
written specially, as it was the holiday season, when 
it would have been wellnigh impossible to have 
communicated with any author likely to have fur- 
nished me with the words for a cantata. I had 
not come across any illustrations of any other 
poem suggesting a subject, as did Noel Paton's 
drawings. I accordingly went to one of the best 
libraries in Tunbridge Wells, and raided nearly 
all the poetical works it contained. None of those 
I looked over, many of which I was already con- 
versant with, fulfilled the conditions that I con- 
sidered essential for a musical work, with the 
exception of one, and that was Moore's " Paradise 



"PARADISE AND THE PERI" 93 

and the Peri." This poem I found admirably 
suited for musical purposes. There was, however, 
this objection that Schumann had written one of 
his finest works on the same subject. I felt, there- 
fore, I was treading on dangerous ground ; but 
then I recollected that Schumann in writing his 
fine work had, as a matter of fact, not made use 
of Moore's words in their integrity ; for the libretto 
to which Schumann allied his music was an adapta- 
tion of a German translation of Moore's poems, 
with many radical alterations and additions. 

Taking this fact into consideration, I felt that I 
was fully justified in attempting to write a cantata 
that would allow the listener to enjoy the beautiful 
words of this poem as left to us by the Hibernian 
bard. As to how I should illustrate them music- 
ally, that was, when I set about the task, an un- 
known quantity ; but I determined upon making 
the attempt, whether I succeeded or failed. In 
this spirit I at once took the matter earnestly in 
hand, and looked over the words with a view to 
their musical possibilities. 

As we were leaving Tunbridge Wells for 
Brighton, I delayed commencing the cantata 
until I arrived at the latter town, and mean- 
while endeavoured to imbue myself thoroughly 
with the spirit of Moore's poem. 

I had for some time previously been giving 



94 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES &> IMPRESSIONS 

myself a rest from composition, so that when I 
commenced working at the new cantata I found 
I was somewhat out of practice. However, 
facility was soon regained, and I was able to 
bring back with me on my return to London two 
or three numbers in sketch. 

The time I had at my disposal for completing 
my " Paradise and the Peri," although a month or 
two longer than I had given me for composing my 
" Ancient Mariner," was none too long ; it was 
therefore highly important for me to avoid any 
delay whilst engaged on the work. Nevertheless, 
on more than one occasion delays did occur which 
might have proved dangerous. For example, I 
lost a good deal of time writing a chorus to the 
words, " Rapidly as comets fly to th' embraces of 
the sun," and then, when I had nearly finished it, 
I changed my mind and thought it would be better 
to omit these words altogether. It may be here 
not without interest to give a few bars of the 
music I intended introducing at this point, which I 
accordingly subjoin. 

Allegro schersoso 




Rapidly as comets fly to th' embraces of 







"PARADISE AND THE PERI" 



95 




Fleeter than the star-ry brands, flung at night from an-gels' hands 



?=F$= 












Ji n i-jrj 



3 









At those dark and daring sprites, 



Who would climb th'em- 



I^A f * \ #^\ 






* 


















(A 






* 


* 


J 








: 




1 




3 








\ 


u* $* 


^ ^' 


-J- 


3 


J: 


^ 


~ 





3 



i 



-- 1 - 



pyreal heights, Down the blue vault the Peri 



flies, 



B 



^ 



On another occasion, when I endeavoured to find 
a theme for the contralto solo, " Nymph of a fair 
but erring line," it seemed as if my ideas had run 
dry ; nothing would come. Day after day I sought 
for a theme, but without success. Then it oc- 
curred to me that a country walk might act as a 
stimulant to my ideas. Accordingly, I took the 
train to Hampstead and made my way to the 



96 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

highest point of the heath, where, aided by a fine 
September afternoon, I enjoyed a glorious view of 
the surrounding country, with the gorse and 
heather of the heath itself as a foreground. This 
view I shall never see again as I saw it then ; for 
West Hampstead, Brondesbury, and other off- 
shoots of the great metropolis were then non- 
existent. On arriving home, I made another 
attempt for a theme, and found that I had not 
over-estimated the salutary effects of country air 
and rural scenes ; in fact, a melody came to me 
quite easily, so that I was able to finish the aria 
that very evening. A similar delay occurred later 
on in the work, that is to say, in the middle of the 
chorus, " But morn is blushing in the sky." Here 
again I felt I wanted a stimulus to my ideas, and 
as it was then winter, and Nature was not available, 
I had recourse to the sister art of painting, and 
spent an hour or so at the National Gallery. On 
arriving home, I found no difficulty in fitting music 
to the words, "And she already hears the trees Of 
Eden with their crystal bells." 

The most serious loss of time that occurred 
during the writing of my work was in connexion 
with the finale. 

I had considerable difficulty in evolving an ap- 
propriate theme for the words "Joy, joy for 
ever ! " and after discarding several melodies that 



"PARADISE AND THE PERI" 97 

had occurred to me, I thought of one that I had 
sketched out some years previously. As the 
melody was of a distinctive character, I tested it 
as to the possibility of allying it to the words just 
quoted, and was glad to find that it suited them 
excellently. Consequently I decided upon adopt- 
ing this theme, and proceeded without interruption 
with the finale, until I arrived at the verse, " My 
feast is now of the Tuba tree." At this point I 
came to a dead stop. In vain I tried to invent 
anything that satisfied me. I lost several days in 
futile attempts, and as it was then about the 
middle of April preceding the Festival, every day 
lost was most serious. I thought, perhaps, a visit 
to the seaside would do some good ; but I did not 
go far, only to Southend-on-Sea, which at that 
time was little more than a village. I engaged 
some rooms in Prittlewell Square, hired the best 
piano obtainable, and there and then renewed my 
attack upon the interrupted finale, but, unfortu- 
nately, with no better results. At last it occurred 
to me that it would be advisable to find another 
theme, and discard altogether what I had written. 
Accordingly, I set to work the same evening and 
wrote an entirely new finale, from beginning to 
end, getting over the difficulty of the words alluded 
to "My feast is now of the Tuba tree" quite 
easily. 



98 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

I played it over to my father and mother, for 
they had accompanied me to Southend. They ap- 
proved of what I had done, so that I retired to 
rest in a contented frame of mind, feeling that I 
had come to the end of my difficulties. The 
following morning, on playing the new theme again, 
I found I did not like it nearly so well as the first 
one I had chosen, although the latter portion of 
what I had just written satisfied me. Then it 
occurred to me : Could I not use this latter por- 
tion, and link it to the original melody ? 

I discovered to my great joy that this was quite 
practicable. And thus, in this circuitous manner, 
I tided over the difficulty that had so long stood 
in my way in finishing the work. 

This enabled me to complete the vocal score and 
place it in the publishers' hands, so that it might be 
brought out in time for the Festival. I was es- 
pecially glad of this, as the Princess of Wales, now 
our Empress Queen, had graciously consented to 
accept the dedication of the cantata. 

Owing to the delays incurred in writing the 
music, I was not able to supply the choral parts of 
the entire work for the earlier rehearsals of the 
Festival Choir ; and therefore at first sent in as 
much as I could possibly get ready, forwarding 
the remainder to Birmingham a week or two 
after. 



"PARADISE AND THE PERI" 99 

One of the choral rehearsals that I went down 
to Birmingham to conduct was somewhat spoilt 
through a mistake I made in regard to the date. 
I had duly entered it in my pocket-book, but 
instead of consulting my memorandum I foolishly 
depended upon my memory. The result was, that 
when I arrived at Mr. Richard Peyton's house at 
Edgbaston, where I always stayed on such occa- 
sions, I found, to my disappointment, that he was 
away from home. I thought it very strange that 
he had apparently forgotten that I was coming, 
and could not divine the cause of his absence. 
There was nothing else to be done but for me to 
find out what was amiss ; I consequently drove to 
Mr. Stockley's house, when I learnt from him that 
I had arrived a week sooner than I was expected. 
However, he told me there was a rehearsal of the 
Festival Chorus that evening ; but he said that the 
attendance would not be so good as it would have 
been the following week, as the choristers always 
appear in greater force when they expect the com- 
poser to be present. 

The solo numbers of my new cantata were 
allotted to Mademoiselle Titiens, Madame Patey, 
Mr. Vernon Rigby, and Signor Foli. 

Titiens took quite as much pains with my 
" Paradise and the Peri " as she did with my 
"Ancient Mariner"; and it was indeed a treat to 



100 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

me to hear the soprano music of my new cantata 
sung with such beauty of tone. 

Foli taking the bass solos gave me an opportunity 
of making the acquaintance of that fine artist. 
I found him very genial, and, although he was an 
Irishman, quite American in his way of speaking, 
added to which he had a certain easy-going manner 
with him that made me feel at once at home with 
him. 

What a grand voice he had, and how fortunate 
I felt in having such an artist at my command ! 

The music describing the plague he sang with 
so much energy that one experienced a feeling 
akin to awe whilst listening to him. 

During the Festival week I was not merely con- 
tent with the part that devolved upon me in con- 
nexion with my " Paradise and the Peri," but went 
to all the other performances, both morning and 
evening. I heard Sullivan's " Overture di Ballo," 
which was produced for the first time, and which 
proved to be a great success. 

I likewise heard Ferdinand Killer's well-wrought 
cantata, " Nala and Damayanti," conducted by its 
composer. 

The memory of this distinguished musician will 
ever be associated with the pathetic scene he wit- 
nessed at the death-bed of Beethoven, when the 
great tone poet in his last moments held out the 



"PARADISE AND THE PERI" 101 

hand of reconciliation to a brother composer, 
Hummel, from whom he had been estranged for 
many years. 

I was glad to have an opportunity during the 
Festival of making the acquaintance of such a 
sterling composer as Ferdinand Hiller. He was 
a portly-looking man, with a kindly manner that 
at once made me feel at ease with him, and I quite 
understood how it was that he was simply adored 
by all the students of the Cologne Conservatorium. 
He has left some charming little sketches for the 
pianoforte, such as his "Zur Guitarre," but his 
larger works are now seldom performed with the 
exception of his Concerto in F sharp minor, which 
was introduced at the Crystal Palace Concerts for 
the first time by Franklin Taylor. 

As to my " Paradise and the Peri," the perform- 
ance of which took place on 30 August, 1870, I 
should have been indeed hard to please, had I not 
been more than gratified with the superb manner 
in which orchestra, chorus, and soloists rendered 
the work. Among the numbers which were en- 
cored was the unaccompanied quartet, "She wept, 
the air grew pure," which went to perfection. In 
the second quartet, " But hark the Vesper call to 
Prayer," where the sound of a bell is supposed to 
be heard, I have lately introduced into the score 
an orchestral bell, in order to give a more realistic 



102 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

effect to this important episode in the cantata. As 
performed at the Festival, I relied entirely upon 
imitating the bell effect by reiterated notes of the 
horns. 

During the ensuing season of the Crystal Palace 
Concerts, my new cantata was performed ; Madame 
Vanzini taking the soprano, Madame Patey the 
contralto, and Vernon Rigby the tenor. Santley, 
who took the bass solos, never sang with greater 
effect than he did on this occasion. He threw so 
much soul and fervour into the aria, " Blest tears 
of soul-felt penitence," that it was irresistibly en- 
cored. I was glad to have among the audience 
August Manns, the conductor of the Palace 
Concerts, he having insisted upon my taking the 
baton at this performance. 

The same season, later in the summer, my 
" Paradise and the Peri " was given at St. James's 
Hall, when the late Madame Lemmens-Sherring- 
ton took the soprano solos. 

In 1871 it was included in the programme of 
the Worcester Festival. Some years later I con- 
ducted a performance of it at Cambridge during 
Commemoration week. At this concert one of 
the recitatives, which is accompanied by wood 
wind instruments alone, was spoilt owing to the 
performers of these instruments having been de- 
tained at a flower-show, where they had been 



"PARADISE AND THE PERI" 103 

playing, and consequently arrived somewhat late 
during the progress of my work. The result was 
that during a recitative the unfortunate tenor 
had to vocalise for several bars without accompani- 
ment, until, at last, I took compassion upon him 
and sang the bassoon part myself, imitating as far 
as was in my power the tones of that useful 
instrument. Whether in so doing I did more 
harm than good to the effect, I cannot say. 

On another occasion I had an opportunity of 
hearing the cantata performed by the Bath Phil- 
harmonic. That accomplished musician, Mr. Alfred 
Visetti, was then the conductor of this society, and 
had put my "Paradise and the Peri" into rehearsal 
for one of the concerts ; when, owing to illness, he 
found himself unable to go on with the practising 
of the choir. He consequently asked me to 
undertake that duty. At the concert the work 
was received by the audience with much favour. 
On leaving Bath the following morning, I carried 
away very pleasant recollections of the bright 
voices of the choir, and not a little satisfaction at 
having heard my cantata rendered in so efficient a 
manner. 



CHAPTER X 

"THE GOOD SHEPHERD 11 AND FIRST 
ORCHESTRAL SUITE 

TN 1873 I produced my " Raising of Lazarus " at 
-*- one of the New Philharmonic Concerts, but of 
this I will speak later on. 

My next choral work was " The Good Shepherd," 
which I wrote at very short notice for Mr. Kuhe's 
Brighton Festival of 1876. When asked to con- 
tribute a work to this Festival, I had one chorus 
and an aria ready by me, which formed a kind of 
nucleus for writing the cantata. The aria was 
composed to the well-known words of the 
Psalmist, " The Lord is my Shepherd," and was 
written in 1873, not long before a serious illness 
fell upon me. During the time that I was ill 
I often thought of the beautiful words of this 
aria, so replete with consolation to one as near 
to " the valley of the shadow of death " as I was 
then. The thought indeed sometimes came to 
me : Should I ever live to make use of the aria 
in some musical work? On being restored to 

104 



"THE GOOD SHEPHERD" 105 

health, I made a resolution that, whenever occa- 
sion offered, I would incorporate it in some sacred 
composition. And thus it was that, when I re- 
ceived the commission from Mr. Kuhe, I eagerly 
embraced this opportunity of carrying out the 
resolution I had formed three years previously. 

I thought it wise to place the writing of the 
libretto of the " Good Shepherd " in experienced 
hands, and therefore called upon Mr. Joseph 
Bennett, the accomplished musical critic of the 
" Daily Telegraph," to ask him whether he would 
undertake to write the words for my sacred can- 
tata. He most kindly consented to do so ; and 
I was glad to find that he thoroughly approved 
of the choice of subject. The words he selected 
from Scripture, with the exception of the hymn, 
"Gentle Shepherd, see us wand'ring," which he 
wrote specially for the work. I found the libretto 
he furnished me with admirably adapted for music, 
and, with such sympathetic material to work upon, 
I was able to get the cantata finished in good time 
for the Festival. 

Among the solo singers who took part in the 
work at the performance were Madame Lemmens- 
Sherrington, Madame Antoinette Sterling, and 
Edward Lloyd. The latter artist sang the tenor 
solo, "I have gone astray," with such genuine 
pathos that it was encored. 



106 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

A year or two after the production of my 
" Good Shepherd ' n the Brighton Festival gave my 
" Ancient Mariner," and I was asked to conduct it. 
At the rehearsal an unwelcome surprise was in 
store for me. When the finale was in progress, I 
found, to my consternation, that the 'celli and 
contra-bassi were not playing. I stopped the 
orchestra, and inquired the cause of this strange 
omission. I was told that the orchestral parts of 
these instruments were imperfect, the finale having 
been omitted altogether. One of these parts 
having been handed to me to see, I discovered 
that, by some accident, the printer had omitted the 
finale altogether. As the performance was in the 
evening, no time was to be lost ; so I had all these 
imperfect parts sent to me at the hotel where 
I was staying, and proceeded to copy out the 
missing number by the aid of my score. It was 
as much as 1 could do to get the parts ready in 
time for the performance. 

In writing these reminiscences, I do not always 
describe the events of my life in chronological 
order, but rather put them down as they occur to 
my memory. Therefore, finding I have forgotten 
to allude to the production of my first orchestral 

1 A few years ago I thought it advisable to revise this sacred cantata, 
and for this purpose an entirely new edition of it has been published. 



FIRST ORCHESTRAL SUITE 107 

suite, I may be pardoned if I say a few words 
about it ; although the work was really written 
and produced two years before my " Good 
Shepherd/' 

Some of the members of the Philharmonic of 
Liverpool having decided upon giving a festival, 
their proposition was eventually carried out, with 
the result that a musical festival at the great city 
of commerce was inaugurated hi 1874. Benedict 
was appointed conductor, and I was selected as 
one of the composers commissioned to write for 
the occasion. The work I contributed to the 
programme was my orchestral Suite, the " Lay of 
the Last Minstrel," describing four episodes in Sir 
Walter Scott's poem. This Suite was produced in 
October, 1874. 

During this Festival I stayed at the house of 
Mr. A. F. Eggers, who, if I recollect rightly, was 
the chairman of the Festival Committee. At his 
house I met one evening Madame Adelina Patti, 
who was one of the artists engaged for the Festival. 
I found her as charming in society as she was 
fascinating on the operatic stage. During the 
evening I played to her my Fantasie for Pianoforte 
that I had written on themes from my " Ancient 
Mariner," and she was very much taken with it. 

At the rehearsal of my " Lay of the Last 
Minstrel" I was glad that the orchestral effects 



108 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

came out just as I intended. Ludwig Straus, who 
led the first violins, told me afterwards that he 
liked the musical colouring by which I have sought 
to convey the impression that one might have 
in visiting Fair Melrose " by the pale moonlight " 
and hearing in imagination the weird chant of the 
monks of old. 

The kindly reception the suite met with at the 
Festival performance was fully endorsed by the 
manner in which the audience welcomed it not 
many months after at the Crystal Palace Concerts. 
It was likewise introduced to the audience of the 
Philharmonic Society of London at the second 
concert of the season of 1877. 



CHAPTER XI 

"THE RAISING OF LAZARUS" 

T WILL here take an opportunity of saying 
-*- a few words about my "Raising of Lazarus," 
the first performance of which at the New Phil- 
harmonic Concerts I have already referred to. 
This work was not the result of any commission 
for a festival, but was commenced even before 
I went to study at Leipsic ; indeed, portions of 
what I had done I took with me to Germany. 
Other parts I wrote in Leipsic, notably the open- 
ing introduction and chorus, which was performed 
in the Gewandhaus. The chorus on this occasion 
consisted of students from the Conservatorium 
assisted by the choir of the Thomas Kirche. At 
one of the rehearsals an opportunity was afforded 
me of hearing a wonderful feat in choral sight- 
singing. It had been arranged between the 
Cantor, Dr. Hauptmann, and myself, that the 
chorus should be rehearsed by the members of 
the Thomas Kirche choir, previous to the general 
rehearsal. Accordingly, on the morning fixed 

109 



110 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

upon, I went, taking with me the choral parts. 
As the composition was in MS., it was absolutely 
impossible that the members of the choir could 
ever have seen it. I expected that they would 
have found it tough work in the way of choral 
singing, the music being very contrapuntal and in 
many parts elaborate in construction. What then 
was my surprise to hear it sung faultlessly, and 
with the greatest amount of spirit. If it had 
been in rehearsal for six weeks it could not have 
gone better. 

Speaking about the Thomas Kirche, reminds 
me how, when a student at Leipsic, I used fre- 
quently to go to this church in the afternoon in 
order to listen to the Psalms and Motets of Bach, 
for the singing of which the choir was justly cele- 
brated. But the greatest treat of all was to hear 
Bach's Passion Music performed there. 

This performance, which takes place annually on 
Good Friday, is looked forward to in Leipsic as 
one of the great events of the year. The wonder- 
fully effective way in which Bach's masterpiece is 
rendered on these occasions is, no doubt, due to 
the manner in which the tempi and light and shade 
are managed, in accordance with the traditions 
that have been handed down to the cantors of 
the Thomas Kirche since the time of Bach him- 
self. One point struck me greatly, on account 




THE THOMAS KIRCHE, LEII'SIC 
(WHERE SEBASTIAN BACH WAS CANTON) 



"THE RAISING OF LAZARUS' 1 111 

of the fine combination of tone produced. This 
occurs in the opening chorus. The boys who sing 
the chorale, while elaborate counterpoint is in 
progress, stand apart in the gallery of the church, 
and their voices seem to soar above the rest of the 
chorus like a celestial choir joining in with those 
who are on the earth below. 

The Gewandhaus orchestra co-operates in these 
annual performances, and on the two occasions that 
I was present the conductor was Julius Rietz. 

I may here incidentally mention that I was 
among the audience at the first performance of 
Bach's Passion Music in England, which was given 
by the Bach Society at St. James's Hall, and con- 
ducted by Sterndale Bennett. Unfortunately, the 
rendering of the work was marred by want of 
sufficient rehearsal. Just before the performance, 
one of my former fellow -students at the Royal 
Academy of Music, the late Henry Baumer, who 
was taking part in the chorus, came round to me 
and warned me that I must not be surprised if the 
chorus was very " shaky " ; for, he said, the only 
rehearsal at which all the members had attended 
was the one immediately preceding the concert. 
So the greater portion of the chorus must have 
been singing Bach's difficult work after having 
been only once through it. A good performance 
under these circumstances was impossible. The 



112 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

redeeming feature, however, was the singing of 
Sims Reeves. Even in Leipsic I had never heard 
the music allotted to the Narrator sung with such 
depth of feeling and beauty of voice. 

In regard to my "Raising of Lazarus," I con- 
tinued the composition of this oratorio on my 
settling in London, and worked at it on and off, 
whenever I had time at my disposal. For the 
New Philharmonic concert I made considerable 
change and revision in the music, and in its new 
form it was published and dedicated to an old 
friend and patron of mine, the late Mr. George 
Norbury, whose brother, Mr. John Norbury, is now 
the esteemed treasurer of the Royal College of 
Organists, and to whom I have dedicated these 
memoirs. 

A few years after the first performance it was 
included hi the programme of the Hereford Festi- 
val of 1876, the solo singers being Mademoiselle 
Titiens, Madame Trebelli, Mr. W. H. Cummings, 
and Mr. Lewis Thomas. 

As in the case of my other works for festivals, I 
went through the solo parts with the singers en- 
gaged, and in this way made the acquaintance of 
Madame Trebelli, who lived nearly opposite to my 
house in Marlborough Place, St. John's Wood, 
where I was then living. I found her charming ; 
and she was evidently most interested in the music 



"THE RAISING OF LAZARUS" 113 

she had to sing in my oratorio. It was a wonderful 
voice she had ; for the middle and lower notes con- 
tained all the richness of a fine contralto, whilst in 
the upper register she could hold her own with any 
soprano as regards compass. In " Carmen " she 
was perfection ; indeed, all who heard her in that 
ever -green opera were unanimous in considering 
her representation of the passionate gipsy as being 
truly wonderful as a specimen of realistic acting. 

I was very glad to have Mr. W. H. Cummings 
for the tenor solo in this work ; for with such a 
true artist and accomplished musician one always 
feels safe. 

Mr. Lewis Thomas as bass possessed just the 
voice suited to the music given to Lazarus ; his 
rich and sonorous tones imparting depth of char- 
acter to the sacred words he was singing. 

It should be here stated, in explanation, that in 
the construction of the libretto of my oratorio I 
have given a part to Lazarus, both before his death 
and after his being raised to life. 

The narrative of this great miracle, as related by 
the evangelist, although it leaves a record of the 
words spoken by Martha and Mary, containing 
some of the most beautiful religious aspirations to 
be found in the New Testament, does not give any 
account of those that may have been uttered by 
Lazarus. In the libretto of the oratorio suitable 



114 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

words, selected from Holy Scripture, have been 
allotted to the bass voice, as being spoken by 
Lazarus. 

It is, perhaps, of interest to remark here, that 
several years after I had arranged the words of my 
" Raising of Lazarus," I came across Schubert's 
"Lazarus," the existence of which, at the time 
I was writing my oratorio, I was not aware of. I 
found that, by a remarkable coincidence, Schubert 
had gone upon the same plan that I have in 
creating a part for Lazarus, in order to make the 
subject more available for musical treatment. 

At the rehearsal in the cathedral an unwelcome 
surprise was in store for me. Just after the dying 
song of Lazarus there is a chorale for organ alone. 
When the organist commenced this it was found 
that the instrument was more than a quarter of a 
tone lower than the orchestra. On inquiring, I was 
told it had been tuned down at Mr. Sims Reeves' 
request ; for at that time he had been agitating for 
the introduction of the French normal pitch into 
England, but found that there were difficulties in 
the way of this change being carried out diffi- 
culties which even now cannot always be sur- 
mounted. 

The impracticability of the orchestra lowering 
its pitch without sufficient preparation was fully 
proved on this occasion, for on my asking if it 



"THE RAISING OF LAZARUS 1 ' 115 

were possible for the wind instruments to be ad- 
justed so as to be in tune with the organ, I was 
informed that it could not be done, as lower than 
a certain pitch they would not go. 

As it was impossible to dispense with the organ 
in my oratorio, it was arranged that the instrument 
should be tuned up to its original pitch, so that 
it could be used with the orchestra, and thus a 
contretemps was avoided. 

At the performance, my " Raising of Lazarus " 
was given without any interval between Parts I and 
II, so that it formed in its entirety the first part of 
the morning service. 

This made rather a long part, and I expect must 
have taxed severely the performers' capacity for 
endurance. The choir especially must have felt it, 
as there are a large number of choruses, many of 
them being of considerable length. 

It was, indeed, a great ordeal for my choir to 
have passed through, and it bore unmistakable 
evidence as to the sterling material of which the 
Hereford Festival Choir was composed ; for not 
only were there no signs of fatigue on the part of 
the choristers, but their intonation w r as true 
throughout. 

How fortunate I felt in having the choruses sung 
by such fresh and beautiful voices, amid the impres- 
sive surroundings of the sacred edifice ! 



116 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

I remember, too, how warmly Sainton, the leader 
of the orchestra, congratulated me after the per- 
formance. What a genial Frenchman he was, his 
face beaming with good nature. I recollect full 
well the pleasure with which, on several occasions, 
I heard him in Spohr's Violin Concertos, especially 
the one in E, which is rarely heard now. 

At the Hereford Festival which I am describing, 
Sainton, at one of the evening concerts, undertook 
more than his duties as leader of the first violins 
required of him. This was when Titiens was 
singing a scena from an Italian opera, in which she 
introduced, as was then customary, numerous orna- 
ments and cadenzas, and with which Townshend 
Smith, the conductor of the Festival, was not 
familiar. It was therefore scarcely to be won- 
dered at, that, not knowing what the prima donna 
was doing or going to do, Townshend Smith should 
have felt rather abroad in directing the orchestra. 
Fortunately, Sainton was equal to the occasion. 
For I noticed that the great French violinist 
quietly, and I may say almost slyly, left off play- 
ing and commenced indicating the parts of the bar 
with his bow, so as to keep the singer and orchestra 
together. The latter knowing that Sainton was 
familiar with the alterations in the music made by 
the fair singer, took the time from his bow, instead 
of from Townshend Smith. It was indeed comi- 



"THE RAISING OF LAZARUS" 117 

cal to see Sainton's bow giving a down beat, whilst 
the conductor's baton was indicating an up beat. 

What a charming man was Townshend Smith, 
so amiable and sympathetic. He was a great lover 
of Spohr, and I understood always included some 
work by that composer in the Festival programme. 

I ought not to omit to mention a very excellent 
performance of the " Raising of Lazarus " which 
took place at the Reading Philharmonic, under the 
direction of Mr. W. Strickland, but I have for- 
gotten the year in which it occurred. 



CHAPTER XII 

CHAMBER MUSIC JANSA AND BEETHOVEN 
THE LESLIE CHOIR 

A CONSIDERABLE interval of time elapsed 
^*- between the production of my "Good Shep- 
herd " and my next choral work, " The Building of 
the Ship." 

Nevertheless, it must not be supposed that 
meanwhile I had given up composition. For 
during those years I wrote a great number of 
pianoforte pieces, the most important being my 
Sonata in E Minor, which was introduced some 
years ago at a pianoforte recital given by my sister, 
Miss Emma Barnett. 

I had already written a Sonata in C Minor when 
I was studying with Julius Rietz at Leipsic. And 
here I may allude to the fact that Rietz, although 
inclined to be very sharp in his manner and caustic 
in his remarks, would occasionally indulge in a 
joke. It was true that the joke was too frequently 
at the expense of one of his pupils. An instance 
of this occurred during one of his lessons, at which 

118 



CHAMBER MUSIC 119 

I had brought the slow movement of the sonata 
alluded to for him to see. He was playing it 
through just as I had written it, until he arrived 
at the final page, where the following phrase 
of three bars occurs : 




J3JS & 



^= 





&c. 



The phrase as it stood in my composition was 
repeated three times, the repetition being taken an 
octave lower each time. This mode of proceeding 
Rietz evidently objected to ; and, in order to 
emphasize his opinion, as well as to show up the 
weakness of the device, he persistently went on 
repeating my poor little phrase, and each time in 
an octave lower, until he had descended into the 



120 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

lowest depths of the bass and no more notes were 
left. The result was a laugh from all present in 
the class against me, which no one enjoyed more 
thoroughly than Rietz himself. 

This sonata I thought a great deal of at the 
time ; but on looking it over again some years 
subsequently, I decided not to publish it. I went, 
therefore, on the principle of "write and burn," 
although the latter part of the precept I did not 
carry out, as there is often a feeling, after destroy- 
ing a composition, that perhaps there might have 
been something in it worth keeping. 

This brings to my mind a conversation I had 
with John Ella, when I was quite a young man, in 
regard to a work of mine that I had just completed, 
and which I told him I contemplated publishing. 

His advice was not perhaps of the most com- 
forting kind. For he said : " You young composers 
want to publish everything as soon as you have 
written it. Write and burn, until you have pro- 
duced something worth keeping." 

Having incidentally brought in the name of 
John Ella, a few words about this remarkable man 
may not be out of place. As the founder of the 
Musical Union, he did much good work in the 
interest of chamber music in England, especially 
in aristocratic circles ; but it is a question as to 
whether these concerts had the effect of popular- 



CHAMBER MUSIC 

izing this form of art with the million. This was 
left for the Monday Popular Concerts to achieve. 
John Ella was a man who made it quite a business 
to ingratiate himself with members of the aris- 
tocracy ; and let it be said that in this respect 
he was eminently successful. He seemed to be 
hand in glove with dukes and lords, and was, 
perhaps, not a little fond of speaking about the 
big-wigs he came in contact with. Thus he suc- 
ceeded in bringing together the most aristocratic 
audience that has ever attended the performances 
of a series of chamber concerts within my recollec- 
tion. As a musician, Ella would probably not 
have taken the first rank. He commenced his 
career as second violin in the orchestra ; not that 
this fact would prove him to be deficient as a 
musician, for the playing of an inner part has 
special difficulties as to time not so frequently met 
with in an upper part. 

In society, however, John Ella was in his 
element, for he had most of the qualifications 
necessary for rendering him popular with the 
upper classes. His appearance was in a way com- 
manding. He had an intellectual forehead, a 
special characteristic of his face being what is 
termed a beetling brow. 

At the concerts of the Musical Union, he was 
always in evidence, and each season he succeeded 



122 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

in bringing forward some new artist of continental 
reputation. Amongst these may be mentioned 
Wilhelmina Clauss, a pianist who charmed London 
by her refined and artistic performances. 

At Willis's Rooms, where these concerts were 
held, the platform was placed nearly in the centre; 
an arrangement that gave to the concerts the air 
of a social matinee, and likewise afforded an oppor- 
tunity of the music being heard to equal advantage 
in every part of the room. 

It would seem that, at this period, there was an 
all-abiding desire on the part of the musical public 
to hear and become familiar with the masterpieces 
of the great composers in chamber music. For at 
the same time that Ella's Musical Union was in 
full swing there was in existence another series of 
concerts of chamber music, called the Reunion des 
Arts, under the direction of Charles Goffrie, who 
played the viola part in the quartets performed, 
and who is still living, I have been told, somewhere 
in America. 

One of the most notable exponents of quartet 
music about this time was the violinist Jansa, 
whom I remember often meeting before going 
to Leipsic. My recollection of him is all the more 
interesting from his associations with Beethoven. 

When a young man, Jansa, who was a well- 
known and accomplished violinist, had the unique 



JANSA AND BEETHOVEN 123 

privilege of playing the first violin part of 
Beethoven's quartets at that immortal composer's 
house, even before they had been published. As 
these trial performances always took place in 
Beethoven's presence, one can picture to oneself 
the intense interest Jansa and his colleagues must 
have felt, as Beethoven handed to them the parts 
of a new quartet just fresh from his pen. Beethoven 
was not deaf then ; so that Jansa often used to tell 
how the great composer would sit in a corner of the 
room, as far as possible from the players no doubt 
more fully to judge of the effects produced. He 
sat, as Jansa told us, with his head bent forward, 
as it were in contemplation, and his arms crossed 
on his chest, listening to the effect of his own 
creations ; and then, if there happened to be some 
mistake in one of the parts, he would rush across 
the room and stop the quartet players and make 
the necessary correction. 

I am therefore glad, and I may say proud, that I 
had the opportunity of meeting with one who had 
the privilege of being on such intimate terms 
with Beethoven as Jansa had been ; for had I not 
shaken the same hand that Beethoven had grasped 
in warmth of gratitude, as he thanked the violinist 
for the part he had taken in trying over the new 
quartet ? 

The history as to the cause which led to Jansa 's 



124 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

domicile in England is not without interest. In 
the year 1849 he came over from Vienna, where he 
occupied an important musical post, to fulfil an 
engagement in London. 

About this time there was trouble in Hungary. 

The patriot Kossuth had stirred up the people to 
insurrection, and after the failure of this emeute, a 
number of his followers sought refuge in England 
to escape the wrath of Austria. Of course, many 
of them arrived in London almost destitute ; so 
that a concert was got up for the relief of these 
Hungarian refugees in 1849. At this concert Jansa 
played, and altogether took a very prominent part 
in the arrangements. This so offended the Austrian 
Government that the authorities at Vienna forbade 
him to return to this city, and his official post was 
at once cancelled. He became, therefore, from 
that time forth, an exile from his own country; but 
as he was greatly attached to England, and had 
made numerous friends in London, he did not feel 
his banishment as he otherwise would have done. 

It may not be without interest to state that he 
was Norman Neruda's first teacher of the violin. 
The present Emperor of Austria also, when a young 
man, received instruction from him in the " king of 
instruments." 

The advent of the " Monday Pops " to which 1 
have alluded, occurred whilst I was in Germany, so 



J. W. DAVISON 125 

that I can only speak of the results of what must 
have been a very excellent start, for when I re- 
turned to London I found them flourishing. 

Not long after the production of my " Ancient 
Mariner'" I was engaged to play at one of the 
Monday Popular Concerts, and chose Beethoven's 
so-called " Waldstein " Sonata. This concert took 
place on 7 December, 1868. 

The late J. W. Davison, who was then musical 
critic to " The Times," did much towards strength- 
ening the position of the " Monday Pops " with the 
music-loving public by means of the analytical 
notes of the music performed, with which he 
enriched the books of words, as well as by the en- 
couragement he so justly gave to these concerts in 
the journal for which he wrote. 

Davison, in his time, was quite a power hi the 
musical world. Many a young debutant has felt a 
wave of nervousness come over him on catching 
sight of this critic in the concert room just before 
appearing on the platform. 

In society, Davison was always " hail fellow well 
met " and full of wit and humour. He had besides 
a certain character of manner that was quite his 
own. I recollect on one occasion, at the house of 
Madame Laura Baxter, a well-known contralto 
singer, meeting Carl Formes, the celebrated basso 
profondo, who amused us all by taking off some of 



126 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES &> IMPRESSIONS 

Davison's peculiarities. He imitated Davison's 
limp in walking so cleverly, that one could quite 
imagine it was the redoubtable critic himself leaving 
the room. 

During the evening, Formes told us that he was 
about to appear as Shylock in the " Merchant of 
Venice." This was rather a surprise to all assem- 
bled, because we wondered how he would dispose 
of his unmistakable German accent. He did not 
long leave us in suspense as to this, as he volun- 
teered to recite some portion of the dialogue of the 
vengeful Jew, choosing one of Shylock's most 
malignant speeches. 

I am sorry to say the effect was utterly ludi- 
crous, since Formes' German accent was even more 
noticeable whilst he was reciting than in his 
ordinary conversation. 

As a singer, in his best days, Formes was cele- 
brated as possessing one of the grandest and deep- 
est bass voices that has ever been heard. 

The true bass voice is, more or less, becoming 
rare, for almost all male singers who are not tenors 
aim at taking the position of baritones. 

I believe it was Santley who made the baritone 
voice so fashionable ; he seemed almost to create 
it, and thus a great demand arose for baritones, 
and we all know that if there is a demand for a 
commodity there will be plenty of it put on the 



CARL FORMES 127 

market. Probably in former times, if a singer 
had by nature a baritone voice, he would do all he 
could to bring down his register to that of the 
true bass. 

In one of " Mr. Punch's " humorous sketches 
there is portrayed a gentleman walking up and 
down in the park on a very wet day without an 
umbrella ; and on being asked by a friend what can 
be his object in so doing, he replies, "that he is 
trying to get hoarse, as he finds that he can 
then more easily reach the deepest bass notes." 
Whether any bass singers of the pre-Santley era 
ever went to such lengths as this, I cannot say ; 
but the fact remains that since the advent of 
Santley's career baritones have been very much 
more in evidence. 

But, as I was saying when I broke off Formes' 
voice was a true bass, possessing an extended com- 
pass, for I have heard him take the high F on the 
second leger-line above the bass clef staff and 
descend to two octaves below, both being fine 
notes. He could moreover easily reach the low D 
below the staff, and with a full volume of tone. 
His singing of " In dieser hieligen Halle," from 
" Die Zauberflote," was something to be remem- 
bered ; especially the grand way that he descended 
the notes of the scale from B flat to the E flat 
below. 



128 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6r> IMPRESSIONS 

Unfortunately, during the latter portion of his 
career his intonation began to deteriorate, even 
whilst his voice remained quite fresh ; for I recol- 
lect hearing him at the opera, when singing an 
unaccompanied cadenza, getting out of the key 
altogether ; so that I quite dreaded the orchestra 
coming in with its chord at the end of the cadenza. 

This reminds me of a story my father once told 
me about a celebrated prima donna in Costa's 
time, who, during the performance of an operatic 
aria, whilst singing a cadenza for voice alone, lost 
the feeling of the key she was in, so that near the 
end of it she was quite a semitone lower than when 
she began. Costa, who saw, or rather heard, what 
had happened, in order to avoid a musical catas- 
trophe, dexterously gave a sign to the orchestra to 
transpose the rest of the aria a semitone lower, so 
that on the re-entrance of the orchestra the singer 
found herself quite in agreement as regards tonal- 
ity with the band. Probably, neither she nor the 
majority of the audience had the slightest idea of 
anything unusual having taken place. 

The tendency of the voice, when unaccompanied, 
to a gradual lowering of the pitch is a phenome- 
non well known to conductors of choral music. It 
seems, in fact, impossible for a large body of 
choristers, however excellent their voices may be, 
to sing beyond a certain length of time without 



THE LESLIE CHOIR 129 

the intonation giving way, unless they are re- 
minded of the pitch by some accompanying in- 
strument ; and strange to say, it never goes up, 
but always down. An unaccompanied part-song 
or madrigal beginning, say, in E flat, will be sure, 
by the time it has finished, to conclude in D, if 
not in a lower key. A curious feature in regard to 
this fact is, that unless the fall of the voices is very 
great, or sudden, no one seems to be aware of it. 

It is natural that whilst discussing matters con- 
cerning unaccompanied choral music my thoughts 
should revert to the Leslie Choir. 

The concerts instituted by Henry Leslie were, 
undoubtedly, amongst the most enjoyable ever 
given in St. James's Hall ; they were likewise 
most valuable in introducing to the public one 
of the most important styles of musical composi- 
tion that is to say, unaccompanied choral music. 
How important a position this class of musical art 
occupies, may be deduced from the fact that, to 
a great extent, it was the origin or foundation 
of modern music ; for such composers as Palestrina, 
Marenzio, and Orlando di Lasso, the pioneers of 
our art, gave expression to their musical ideas nearly 
always in the form of unaccompanied choral music. 
All the best of our early English composers, too, 
said what they had to say for the most part in 
madrigals or other forms of music for voices alone. 



K 



130 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

The Leslie Concerts did, therefore, an untold 
amount of good in causing this unique and beauti- 
ful species of music to become known and appre- 
ciated by the public at large. 

Among the distinguishing features of the Leslie 
Choir were the charming nuances of light and 
shade that one noticed in the rendering of the 
part-songs and madrigals performed. The beauty 
of tone of the voices was likewise very remark- 
able ; but in the later history of the choir this 
quality deteriorated to some extent, probably 
owing to the ageing of the voices of its members. 

Henry Leslie was always ready to introduce any 
new part-song of mine at his concerts. 

On one occasion he performed a short madrigal 
" If I had but two little wings." ] I think it was 
when writing to Mr. Leslie to tell him about 
this madrigal that I was guilty of sending off one 
of the most absurd specimens of a letter that has 
ever been posted. 

I had nearly finished this letter, when, owing 
to a mistake I had made in it, I put it aside, 
intending to rewrite it. I did not do so at once, 
but began amusing myself by making various little 
sketches in pen and ink on the margin of the 
unfinished letter. This by some accident was 
sent off to Mr. Leslie instead of the one 1 had 

1 Words by Coleridge. 



THE LESLIE CHOIR 131 

rewritten. Mr. Leslie must have been highly 
amused at receiving such an extraordinary epistle, 
without even a signature. Nevertheless, strange 
to say, I had an answer from him, in which he 
said that he had no doubt the letter was from me, 
as he recognized my handwriting. 

I think it was at the same choral practice when 
my madrigal was rehearsed that I heard a new 
part-song by Blumenthal on the well-known words 
of Herrick, " Gather ye rosebuds whilst ye may." 
Blumenthal himself conducted it, and a very dainty 
piece of music it proved to be. 

At the first performance of all the part-songs 
of my composition that Mr. Leslie introduced, he 
very kindly handed the baton to me to conduct 
them myself. 

In the programme of one of the Leslie Concerts, 
the last in which I took an active part, a well- 
known amateur flautist, Mr. W. Matthews, was 
put down for my Concerto Pastorale for Flute. 

Mr. Matthews, when a young man, intended to 
have taken up the flute as a profession, but before 
doing so he asked the advice of Mr. W. Carte, the 
father of the late D'Oyly Carte. Mr. Carte's 
advice was to the effect that, as Mr. Matthews 
had good business opportunities, it would be wiser 
for him to give up the idea of becoming a pro- 
fessional flautist. In the end, Mr. Matthews became 



132 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

a prosperous manufacturer ; but he still preserved 
his love for the flute, and attained such facility 
of execution on that instrument that he frequently 
played at important concerts with great success. 
He had, indeed, a short time previous to this 
Leslie Concert, given an excellent performance 
of my Concerto Pastorale in the Town Hall at 
Birmingham, on which occasion there was a full 
band. 

As there was no orchestra at the Leslie Concert, 
I was asked to accompany Mr. Matthews on the 
piano. 

Unfortunately this performance had a most 
disastrous termination. 

He had played the first two movements of the 
concerto with considerable effect ; but I noticed 
that towards the end of the Andante his tone 
appeared to be getting weaker and weaker, and 
that he was playing with great effort. I thought, 
nevertheless, that the rest afforded him by the 
interlude between the movements would have 
enabled him to recover himself, instead of which, 
when he attempted the opening phrase of the last 
movement, not a note would come. He tried in 
vain to get even a sound out of his flute, but to no 
purpose ; so after several desperate efforts to awaken 
music in his instrument he was obliged to abandon 
the attempt, and we had to retire, leaving the Con- 



THE LESLIE CHOIR 133 

certo unfinished. The audience, seeing that some- 
thing unusual had occurred, applauded the un- 
fortunate flautist most warmly. 

I was told afterwards by Mr. Radcliffe, the well- 
known flautist, that this breakdown must have been 
caused by temporary paralysis of the lips, owing, 
probably, to extreme nervousness. To me the 
incident was very painful indeed. I heard some 
years subsequently that Mr. Matthews had never 
appeared in public since this concert. 

I ought not to omit mentioning that, about a 
year or two after this occurrence, the Flute Con- 
certo was performed at one of the Covent Garden 
Promenade Concerts by Mr. Collard, for whom it 
had been originally written. Owing to circum- 
stances connected with the publishing of this Con- 
certo, copies of it are now very scarce. Perhaps, 
in consequence of this, a copy of it may in time 
come to be very valuable ! 



CHAPTER XIII 

OVERTURE TO "A WINTER'S TALE" 

T HAVE already alluded to the Ouverture 
-*- Symphonique that I composed for the Phil- 
harmonic. Another orchestral work in this form 
I wrote in the year 1873 for the British Orchestral 
Society. This society was started at the initiative 
of Mr. George Mount, and financed by four or 
five City men ; its object being to show that it 
was quite possible to have an orchestra of the 
very first quality, entirely composed of British 
executants. 

The institution of this society was, perhaps, 
scarcely necessary to prove this fact, for the British 
orchestral player has always held a high reputation 
for excellence. It has, indeed, often been remarked 
that the tone of the strings in our orchestras is 
even superior to that in orchestras on the Continent. 
The reason sometimes given for this is, that the 
violinists in our orchestras, being generally better 
paid than those abroad, can afford to have instru- 
ments that are superior in tone to those possessed 



OVERTURE TO "A WINTER'S TALE" 135 

by foreign orchestras. It may not, however, be 
entirely owing to this cause; but perhaps some- 
thing may be due to our national physique. It is 
certainly remarkable that it was said to have been 
an Englishman who possessed the grandest tone 
on the violoncello ever thought possible. I allude 
to the celebrated 'cellist Robert Lindley. Accord- 
ing to what I have been told, for his artistic career 
was before my time, his tone must have equalled in 
volume two good 'cellists playing in unison. It 
was, in fact, so remarkable that Piatti and other 
eminent soloists are said to have interviewed him 
with the object of finding out the secret of this 
astonishing amount of tone. 

My father knew Robert Lindley well, as he was 
connected with our family, my uncle John Barnett 
having married one of Lindley's daughters. When 
I was a boy I was introduced to the great 'cellist ; 
but I never heard him play, as unfortunately he was 
then partially paralysed. I could, nevertheless, see 
from his build that he must have been a very power- 
ful man. He was both tall and well built, and judg- 
ing from the size of his hands, the 'cello must have 
felt to him very much as a violin would in smaller 
hands. 

Lindley and the celebrated contra-bassist Drago- 
nitti were, for many years, conspicuous figures in the 
orchestra at the Royal Italian Opera. 



136 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

Of course, Lindley was greatly in request at 
festivals and other musical performances both in 
town and country. My father often told me a 
story about him which shows what love Lindley 
must have had for his instrument. 

It happened that on one occasion he was travel- 
ling by the stage-coach to fulfil some concert or 
festival engagement (there were no railways in 
those days), when the coach was unfortunately 
overturned. All the passengers were, of course, 
precipitated into the road, Lindley among the 
number. Our 'cellist, however, lost no time in 
searching for his violoncello, and on opening the 
case was so delighted to find the instrument un- 
injured, that he seated himself on a bank by the 
roadside and commenced trying over portions of a 
concerto, much to the astonishment of the late 
occupants of the wrecked coach, who, notwith- 
standing their injuries, were spellbound by the 
beautiful tones he produced. 

Few artists have ever played to an audience 
under such extraordinary circumstances. 

To return to the point whence I have digres- 
sed, the work that I wrote for the British Orches- 
tral Society was my overture to Shakespeare's 
" Winter's Tale." It was performed on 6 Feb- 
ruary, 1873, at St. James's Hall, and, I am glad 
to say, pleased greatly ; so much so, that it was 



OVERTURE TO "A WINTER'S TALE 11 137 

repeated some time after at one of the Crystal 
Palace Concerts. 

In this overture I have attempted to illustrate 
the salient features of Shakespeare's romantic 
drama ; but I have scarcely gone so far as to make 
it a piece of programme music. There is a point, 
however, just before the coda, where I have worked 
up the music to a climax which is interrupted by 
some notes for the trumpet alone, and which repro- 
duce the opening phrase of the introduction. 
This phrase nowadays would be called the 
Hermione Leitmotif. It is intended to describe 
the startling incident in the last scene of the play, 
where Leontes is shown what he takes to be a 
statue of Hermione. The coda which follows is 
descriptive of his joy and that of those assembled 
upon discovering that the statue is none other than 
Hermione herself, " stolen from the dead " and 
restored to them as if by supernatural agency. 

One of the last works I composed previous to 
my " Building of the Ship " (described in a later 
chapter), was my aria, " The Golden Gate." The 
words of this song were written by Hugh Con way 
upon a subject 1 suggested to him, which I will 
briefly describe. A lonely woman in great distress 
of mind, seeks shelter in the porch of a church, 
and whilst resting, she hears from within the sacred 
edifice the strains of a hymn well known to her in 



138 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

happier days. Its soothing melody touches her 
heart and affords her the consolation she greatly 
needs. This aria I instrumented, and it was sung 
by Madame Patey at a Philharmonic Concert, 
which took place on 4 March, 1880. 



CHAPTER XIV 

BENNETT'S CONCERTO AN OLD 
CONCERT PROGRAMME 

T HAVE often regretted that I did not seek 
-*- some other means than the profession of a 
teacher for turning my musical abilities to profit- 
able account, because, of all occupations, it is the 
one that interferes more than any other with the 
work of composing. Apart from the time it takes, 
it undoubtedly tends to damp one's enthusiasm for 
the art, for one feels little inclined to work at 
composition after giving several hours' instruction 
in pianoforte or harmony. Nevertheless, many 
composers have devoted a large portion of their 
lives to this occupation; notably Sterndale Bennett, 
than whom, as a teacher, few professors have ever 
been in greater demand. 

Sterndale Bennett, during the greater part of his 
life, was considered to be the most notable com- 
poser that England possessed. Even in Germany 
his works found favour, and they are still held in 
esteem in the Fatherland. 

139 



140 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

Although I occasionally met him at concerts 
and festivals, it was only when he came to reside 
in St. John's Wood that I became better ac- 
quainted with him. As I lived only a few minutes' 
walk from the house he had chosen, I one day took 
the opportunity of paying him a visit. 

A very agreeable hour I spent in his society, and 
we had a most interesting conversation upon several 
musical subjects. Whilst 1 was with him I felt 
much tempted to ask him to play one of his 
compositions to me, but was afraid of presuming 
too far on a first visit. Perhaps if 1 had asked 
him he would not have acceded to my request, for 
I understood that he was not in the habit of play- 
ing even to his pupils. 

Sir Sterndale Bennett was a man of slight build. 
His high and intellectual forehead conveyed the 
impression that he had a refined and cultured 
mind ; his manner was kindly and reassuring. 

Whilst talking with him, I could hardly realize 
that this modest and unassuming man was then at 
the head of his profession. I left him with very 
pleasant recollections of the interview, intending 
soon to pay him another visit. But, alas ! the 
opportunity never came, for shortly after he was 
seized by serious illness which terminated in his 
death. 

The last performance of his Concerto in F 



BENNETTS CONCERTO 141 

Minor given during his lifetime was probably the 
one in which I took the solo part at the Xovello 
Concerts in the year 1874. Although I knew 
this work well, and had often heard it, I had 
never before played it in public. I intended to 
perform it from memory at the concert, but at 
the rehearsal I am ashamed to say that my 
memory failed me, and 1 was obliged to stop and 
ask Joseph Barnby, who was conducting, to let me 
have a peep at the score. After which I was able 
to go on successfully to the end. 

This incident, however, caused me to think it 
unwise to risk playing without the copy at the 
concert, though at the time I do not think I once 
looked at the notes the fact that they were there 
made me perfectly safe. 

A great deal has been said about the inadvisa- 
bility of playing from memory in public. Some 
go so far as to say that it should never be 
attempted in ensemble music or in concertos, as 
a slip of memory jeopardises the whole perform- 
ance. Certainly there is much truth in this view 
of the case in fact there have been not a few 
musical disasters caused by the uncertainty of the 
memory. 

For example, I was present at a Crystal Palace 
Concert when Von Biilow was playing Moscheles' 
Concerto in G Minor at the centenary of that 



MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

composer's birth. During the performance, at 
some point in the first movement, Von Billow's 
memory suddenly failed him, and for a few bars he 
was at fault, but he succeeded in righting himself 
before the slip was noticed by any except those 
who knew the concerto as intimately as I did. 
Under some circumstances, it might have been 
impossible for even so accomplished a pianist and 
so fine a musician as Von Biilow to have avoided 
coming to a full stop, since no amount of musical 
knowledge will supply the place of memory. The 
same kind of contretemps happened once to 
Arabella Goddard, but she was less fortunate 
than Von Biilow. She was playing the well-known 
Capriccio of Mendelssohn in B Minor, op. 22, 
with orchestra, at a concert, when her memory 
played truant, and she was unable to proceed. 
She commenced again ; but, at the same point 
where she had previously failed, her memory once 
more refused to act. Meanwhile, some one in 
the audience went out and succeeded in procuring 
a copy of the piece, which was handed to the fair 
pianist, who then made a fresh start and gave an 
admirable reading of the Capriccio. 

Arabella Goddard, for many years our repre- 
sentative English pianist, was indeed a charming 
executant hi every way. I remember that when 
she played at the Gewandhaus Concerts the 



AN OLD CONCERT PROGRAMME 143 

Germans called her "die schone Englanderin" She 
had a beautiful touch, refined and brilliant, and 
her certainty was exceptional. I never heard her 
play a wrong note ; in fact, when one listened to 
her it seemed an impossibility for such an accident 
to occur. She had been a pupil of Thalberg, and 
no doubt her playing owed many of its excellent 
points to his system of technique. 

A few words about the Novello Concerts, at 
which I played the Bennett Concerto, may not be 
out of place here. They were established three 
years after the opening of the Albert Hall where 
they took place, and the scheme was that of giving 
a concert every evening in the week during the 
winter season. According to the day of the week, 
each evening was devoted to a special style of con- 
cert. There was a classical night, a popular night, 
a Wagnerian night, an English night, and so forth. 
I was engaged for the English nights, and I con- 
ducted many well-known compositions by native 
composers, such as Sullivan's Symphony in E 
Minor, Prout's Organ Concerto, etc. 

I took the opportunity of introducing several 
new English compositions that were sent to me for 
selection, amongst which was a symphony by 
H. Lohr. 

The Wagner nights were conducted by Edward 
Dannreuther, while Barnby took the baton on the 



144 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

classical evenings. Artistically, the concerts were 
a great success, although the orchestra was scarcely 
large enough for the Albert Hall. It might have 
been partly due to this cause, or to the fact that 
the hall was not sufficiently central, that the con- 
certs were not well enough attended to justify 
Messrs. Novello in continuing them. 

The general title of these concerts was : 

THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL CONCERTS. 
EVERY EVENING. 

I have before me now one of the programmes 
that 1 conducted. It is dated 10 November, 1874, 
and the selection was as follows : 

PART I 

Overture . . "The Sapphire Necklace" ARTHUR SULLIVAN. 
Glee . . " O thou whose beams " . SIR JOHN Goss. 

Air . . . "I rejoice in my Youth " G. A. MACFARREN. 
Concerto in E for Pianoforte . . SIR W. STERNDALE BENNETT. 
Old Ditty . " Drink to me only with thine eyes " (1600) 
Descriptive Piece for Orchestra 

" The Lay of the Last Minstrel " J. F. BARNETT. 

PART II 

Concerto in A Minor W. G. CUSINS. 

Ballad . . . " The Woodpecker " MICHAEL KELLY. 

Solo Organ Theme in A Minor with Variations . W. T. BEST. 

Song . . . (< Bid Me Discourse " . BISHOP. 

Part Song ' e Land of Beauty " . . MENDELSSOHN. 

Glee . . . " Beauties, have you seen a Toy EVANS. 

Overture ... " Ruy Bias " . . MENDELSSOHN. 

It will be seen by this that the compositions per- 
formed, with two exceptions, were all by native 



AN OLD CONCERT PROGRAMME 145 

composers. Mr. Cusins performed the Bennett 
Concerto as well as his own composition, and 
Mr. W. S. Hoyte played the organ solo. 

On the back of the programme I have just 
given I see announced for the next concert 
(17 November, 1874), among other items, a 
Symphony in G Minor by Sir J. Benedict; an 
overture, " Andromeda," by H. Gadsby ; and 
Mendelssohn's G Minor Concerto. Pianist, Mr. 
Franklin Taylor. I notice too, as the accom- 
panist of the songs, the name of Mr. W. H. 
Thomas. 



CHAPTER XV 

AS TEACHER PROFESSORS OF THE 
PAST 

A S musical education has occupied so much of my 
*-*- time and attention throughout the greater part 
of my life, I propose to devote some space to the 
subject, as it is one that I think will be found of 
more or less interest to my readers. 

Although teaching the pianoforte is on the whole 
a monotonous occupation, occasionally it is relieved 
by the advent of a pupil of great musical intelli- 
gence. When one is fortunate in having to guide 
real talent in the paths of musical culture, the in- 
terest aroused in one's work is exceedingly keen. 
Such opportunities are not too abundant, but some 
have fallen in my way, and I am proud to say 
that among my former pupils not a few have 
risen to a high position in the musical profession. 

The counterpart to this happy state of things 
was not infrequently in evidence. I recollect, 
many years ago, a middle-aged gentleman coming 

to me for pianoforte lessons. I asked him to 

146 



AS TEACHER 147 

play something to me. XVhen he had stumbled 
through a very simple piece in a most indifferent 
manner, he told me, to my surprise, that he was a 
teacher of music at several large schools for boys, 
but, feeling himself at a disadvantage, he wished to 
improve his own playing. Certainly there was ample 
room for improvement. He informed me that he 
had begun to study the pianoforte when he was 
about the age of forty-five. I felt quite ashamed 
at having to instruct so backward a pupil. How- 
ever, he was a good-natured man, and not above 
being told what to do. But his fingers were so stiff 
through want of practice, that whenever he raised 
them high, the effort caused his face to assume a 
most comical expression. 

As a rule, the greater number of those who 
study with a professor learn music purely as an 
accomplishment, and therefore one cannot expect 
much from them. Usually the tastes of such 
pupils incline to the light or drawing-room style 
of music, which was in full force when I com- 
menced my labours in teaching. 

Pieces by Ley bach, De Voss, Schuloff, etc., 
were then much in vogue. One reason for this 
was that the romantic school of pianoforte 
music, as represented by Schumann and Chopin, 
as well as Schubert, was little known at that 
time in England, and comparatively few pieces 



148 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

by these composers had then found their way into 
our homes. 

Mr. Edwin Ashdown, the founder of the music 
publishing firm of Ashdown & Parry, told me 
the other day that Chopin's works, which were 
originally published in England by Wessel & Co., 
were for a long period a dead letter, from a music 
publishing point of view. In other words, they 
did not sell. Wessel lost money over them, and, as 
bad luck would have it, it was not until the copy- 
right of these works had expired that a demand 
for them arose. The enlightening of the English 
public as to the beauties of Chopin was greatly 
due to Charles Hallo's performances of that com- 
poser's music. Chopin's works for the pianoforte 
had been in existence for years, yet comparatively 
few people in this country seemed to be aware of 
that fact. 

Are there at the present day any composers of 
genuine worth whose light is thus hidden under a 
bushel, as was Chopin's for so long? Probably 
many an ambitious composer who has not as yet 
achieved fame will think so. 

The experience of those professors whose aims 
are high in regard to the style of music they wish 
to teach, is as a rule disappointing, as they but 
rarely meet with an opportunity of training a pupil 
to a high art standard. Nevertheless, occasionally 



AS TEACHER 149 

one comes across musical ability of sterling value. 
An instance of the kind I may mention. 

At a lady's school at Denmark Hill, where I 
had a large class of pianoforte students, I had a 
pupil who, after studying a few years with me, 
attained such technical skill that she was able to 
master successfully the difficulties of both the 
Chopin Concertos. The first of these works she 
learnt was the one in F Minor, which she played 
faultlessly after only three weeks of practice. I 
believe few students at our music colleges would 
be able to accomplish such a feat as this in so short 
a time. In my experience I never met, before or 
since, with any amateur who so quickly mastered 
the difficulties of a complicated piece of music as 
did this young girl. The second Concerto of 
Chopin she studied with Herr Lehmeyer, whom I 
had engaged as my substitute in consequence of 
my illness to which I have alluded. 

I heard on my return to the school that Herr 
Lehmeyer was so surprised with the marvellous 
manner in which this schoolgirl played the first 
movement of the E Minor Concerto at the lesson, 
that at the end of the performance he warmly ap- 
plauded her, much to the surprise of the prim 
schoolmistress who was present, and who was not 
accustomed to such enthusiastic demonstrations by 
the music professor. 



150 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

This pupil married a year or two after she left 
the school, and at the wedding reception she gave 
to her friends, among whom I was included, she 
charmed every one by a most musician-like perfor- 
mance of Schubert's Sonata in D. This was the 
last time I heard her play, for about a year later I 
read with deep regret of her premature death. 

As I have already mentioned, the musician who 
is greatly occupied with teaching finds it a difficult 
problem to eke out time for composition. Occa- 
sionally he has to sacrifice his teaching to make 
room for it. This I frequently 'had to do, more 
especially when I was writing the " Ancient Mari- 
ner " and " Paradise and the Peri." During these 
periods it was my private pupils whom I put off, 
as I could not interfere with scholastic engage- 
ments. 

I found it a most dangerous thing to the cause 
of punctuality to endeavour to utilize a spare hour 
in composing before sallying forth upon a teaching 
expedition. For more than once my work so en- 
grossed my thoughts that I forgot how time was 
passing, until a glance at my watch reminded me 
of the stern realities of life, and told me that I had 
already overstayed the hour in the fairyland of 
composition, and thereby had missed my train. 
More than one musician in his time has yielded too 
unconditionally to this fascinating spell. The late 



AS TEACHER 151 

Henry Smart, the versatile composer of the "Bride 
of Dunkerron " and important and useful organ 
solos, was frequently as much as three or four 
hours late at his school engagements owing to this 
enthralling occupation. 

Henry Smart was a genial and sympathetic com- 
poser. I was much struck with his " Bride of 
Dunkerron," which I heard on its first performance 
at the Birmingham Festival of 1864. Many of 
his songs, such as the " Bell-ringer," will remain 
among the choice specimens of musical lyrics. The 
partial blindness which unfortunately overtook him 
in later years must have been a great hindrance 
to him in his work as composer and organist. 
The last time that I met him was on an occasion 
when I was associated with him as one of the 
adjudicators of a composition prize at the Royal 
Academy of Music. 

Many important changes have taken place in 
regard to musical education in this country since I 
first entered the musical profession. The most 
noticeable of these has been the rapid growth of 
music schools and colleges, both public and private. 
In former times, when a young lady had left 
school, if her friends were desirous that she should 
continue her musical studies, they engaged a pro- 
fessor to give her private lessons, for which they 
would often pay very high terms. Thus a success- 



152 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

ful teacher having a fashionable connexion fre- 
quently made it a rule to accept only those pupils 
who were moving in the highest spheres of 
society. 

There is a story that my father once told me 
about Mrs. Anderson and Moscheles, which may 
be worth repeating. 

Mrs. Anderson, who was a celebrated public 
player, and who also had the honour of being 
pianist to Queen Victoria, was one day giving 
orders at her greengrocer's, when the proprietress 
of the shop asked her whether it would be possible 
for her to arrange to give her own daughter piano- 
forte lessons. The fashionable pianist, it is said, 
was rather taken aback at such a suggestion, and 
politely declined the offer. Some few weeks later, 
Mrs. Anderson was again in the shop, when the 
proprietress said, with the air of one who had the 
best of the situation 

"My daughter is taking lessons of Moscheles, 
and I pay him a guinea a lesson." 

While the time lasted, many music professors 
reaped a rich harvest from private lessons, which, 
in the majority of cases, were given at the house 
of the pupil. 

When I returned from Germany, among the 
most successful teachers of the pianoforte were 
Ernest Pauer, Lindsay Sloper, and Benedict. 



PROFESSORS OF THE PAST 153 

I have already alluded to having heard Pauer in 
Leipsic at the Gewandhaus Concerts, where I had 
an opportunity of appreciating his striking qualities 
as a pianist. Not only was he a fine musician, but 
he possessed great literary attainments, added to 
which he was quite a musical antiquarian, and by 
his researches many a great composition for the 
piano, or the keyboard instruments that preceded 
it, has been rescued from oblivion. His wonderful 
memory kept him thoroughly conversant with all 
in the way of pianoforte music that had ever been 
printed. He could even tell you who was the 
publisher of any particular piece, what key it was 
in, and, if called upon to do so, could play over 
portions of it. This wide knowledge of pianoforte 
music must have been of untold advantage when 
he gave his series of Historical Recitals at St. 
James's Hall. I was present at some of them, 
and was much struck with the fine interpretation 
he gave to so many compositions, both in ancient 
and modern styles. He also gained much distinction 
by the lectures he delivered on musical subjects, 
some of which were given at the Royal Institution. 

Pauer did not limit his researches in music to 
compositions only in the classical style, but ex- 
tended them to works in a lighter vein, that is to 
say to those that come under the head of drawing- 
room pieces. 



154 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

It is difficult in many cases to define what is 
really classical in pianoforte music. Thus I recol- 
lect, when I was in Leipsic, Ernst Rudorff, of 
Berlin, who was then a fellow-student of mine, 
asked me whether I was learning anything by 
Chopin. On my telling him that I was studying 
that composer's Ballade in A flat, he said, "It is 
not a bit classical, but you will like it." Chopin 
at that time had not been placed amongst the 
classics in music. 

Pauer was very liberal in his views with regard 
to English music, and on one occasion gave a 
lecture entirely devoted to drawing-room music 
by native composers. Previous to this he wrote 
and asked me if I could let him have a composi- 
tion of mine suitable for the subject he had chosen. 
Accordingly, I sent him my " Chapel by the Sea " 
and " Gavotte in G Minor." He selected the 
former, and he afterwards told me that the little 
piece pleased the audience greatly. 

Pauer, who was over six feet in stature, was 
quite military in appearance, for in his youth he 
had served two years in the German army. He 
died not long ago at his country house in Heidel- 
berg. At the time I knew him he was a man 
of iron nerve, and a wonderful worker. I recollect 
that at an examination at the Royal College of 
Music, at which he was one of the examiners, 



PROFESSORS OF THE PAST 155 

a pupil complained to him of being nervous. 
" I do not know what nervousness is," said Pauer. 
" I have never felt it myself." Alas ! there are 
few who could say as much, for nervousness is an 
evil spirit that haunts alike the professional artist 
and the student. But for nervousness many a 
pianist would have become celebrated ! 

It is said that Henselt, whose compositions for 
the piano prove him to have been a pianist of 
enormous executive powers, suffered so much from 
this physical weakness that he seldom appeared in 
public. 

Apropos of Henselt, Pachmann, the great 
Chopin pianist, told me once that a year or two 
prior to the death of Henselt he happened to 
pay that veteran pianist a visit, and to his surprise 
found him wearing as many as five thick coats, one 
over the other. Truly he must have been a chilly 
mortal ! 

One of the most notable music professors of 
the past was Sir Julius Benedict, whose success 
as a composer was at one time so great that 
many musicians were of opinion that, had he 
devoted all his energies to that branch of his art, 
he might have made an enduring reputation in the 
highest domain of music. In any case, during 
a considerable portion of his life he was greatly in 
request as a composer of works for the great 



156 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

festivals. His oratorio " St. Peter " was produced 
at a Birmingham Festival ; in addition to this he 
wrote several cantatas, some of which were written 
for the Norwich Festival, of which he was con- 
ductor. He was musical director and conductor 
of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, and was 
greatly sought after during the London season for 
arranging the details and engaging artists for 
musical "at homes." Altogether he was one of 
the busiest musicians of the time ; so that it 
seemed marvellous that he could have found 
leisure to work at composition at all. It was said 
by some he composed during the night and taught 
during the day ; notwithstanding, he contrived to 
be present at nearly every important concert or 
fashionable reception given by patrons of musical 
art. You could go nowhere, where music was in 
evidence, without seeing Benedict. You would 
meet him one afternoon at Lady So-and-so's ; the 
same evening he would be conducting a concert 
at Liverpool or Manchester ; the next day he would 
be seen in the afternoon accompanying a concert. 
How he managed this kind of omnipresence was 
a mystery. 

Benedict was a man of engaging manners, and, 
of course, quite a society man ; yet, notwith- 
standing the high position he held in the musical 
world, he was at all times most accessible. He 



PROFESSORS OF THE PAST 157 

was very kind to me, and took great interest in my 
works. When I played over my orchestral Suite, 
" The Lay of the Last Minstrel," previous to its 
performance at the Liverpool Festival, he expressed 
himself very pleased with the Finale, and the 
manner in which I had managed the crescendo 
leading to the re-entry of the principal theme. 
During the week of the Liverpool Festival at 
which this work was performed, I stayed a part 
of the time at the same hotel as did Benedict, and 
had several interesting conversations with him. 
He had much valuable information in regard to 
the great musicians of the past, for as a young 
man he had seen Beethoven ; he had also been 
a favourite pupil of Weber, the composer of " Der 
Freischiitz." To Benedict we owe a debt of grati- 
tude for having handed down the musical pro- 
gramme of Weber's Concert-stuck, which Weber 
himself disclosed to Benedict. The composer in 
this work merely gives the tempi of the move- 
ments, but he explained to his pupil Benedict that 
it was really a piece of programme music. The 
story it describes is supposed to have taken place 
during the time of the Crusades. 

The pathetic and sometimes passionate move- 
ment with which the Concert-stuck opens is 
descriptive of a maiden bewailing the absence of 
her lover, he being then far away in the Holy Land 



158 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

fighting for the Cross. In the Allegro Passionate 
which follows we have a glimpse of the rush and 
turmoil of war, and we wonder whether the lover 
will escape all the dangers that surround him. 

The first few bars of the second movement open 
sorrowfully ; but what is it that strikes upon the 
ear of the disconsolate maiden ? Is it not the dis- 
tant sound of martial music ? This in the score is 
expressed by the well-known March, which com- 
mences pianissimo, for wind alone. In imagination 
we see the Crusaders approaching, whilst the music 
of the March increases in volume until it works up 
to a grand fortissimo. The maiden sees her lover 
among the home-returning warriors, and the joy of 
their meeting finds its vent in the brilliant and 
exuberant Finale with which the Concert-stuck 
terminates. 

I am sorry, that whilst I had the opportunity, I 
did not ask Benedict endless questions about the 
celebrated composers and pianists he must have 
known more or less intimately, for, doubtless, he 
had a wealth of information at his disposal, much 
of which is now lost for ever. 

Another musician full of interesting memories 
of composers and pianists of his time was Lindsay 
Sloper, who was one of the most successful teach- 
ers during his earlier career. He was editor of the 
first musical journal ever started. It was called 



PROFESSORS OF THE PAST 159 

" Hanover Square," and was brought out by 
Ashdown & Parry. Lindsay Sloper asked me to 
contribute to it, and I accordingly wrote a little 
piece called " Sunrise," which was accepted. On 
republishing this piece in separate form I added a 
sequel, " Sunset," which latter was the first piece I 
wrote after my recovery from the illness to which 
I have already more than once alluded. 



CHAPTER XVI 

A NEW MUSIC-SCHOOLCONDUCTORS 
AND PERFORMERS 

TN these days a professor does comparatively 
little private teaching. Those who wish to 
study under a well-known master choose some 
musician of distinction who is engaged at one of 
the colleges or schools of music. 

For many years the only institution of the kind 
that existed in London was the Royal Academy 
of Music, which during its earlier history was only 
available for those studying for the profession. 

The first idea of founding a music -school for 
amateurs where the fees were, so to say, at popu- 
lar prices, probably originated with Dr. Wylde, 
whom, as I have already said, I studied with as a 
boy before I went to Leipsic. In any case, on my 
return to England I found that he had started a 
scheme of the kind under the title of the London 
Academy of Music, and the course of instruction 
he offered was very efficient, consisting of a princi- 
pal study, a second study, and harmony. 

1 60 



CONDUCTORS AND PERFORMERS 161 

The London Academy of Music was originally 
held at St. James's Hall, or rather rooms that were 
included in that building. It proved to be a great 
success, so great that other schools of music were 
started on similar lines. But, strange to say, they 
were mostly failures, which showed conclusively 
that the public had not then become thoroughly 
converted to this mode of receiving musical in- 
struction. In fact it was not until the Guildhall 
School of Music was founded that the success of 
this new departure in musical education became 
universal ; but of this I will speak later on. 

I have already alluded more than once to Dr. 
Wylde, to whose energy and businesslike capacities 
the London Academy owed its success, and who 
undoubtedly exercised considerable influence in 
musical circles during his life. 

As a young man he took his degrees of Mus. 
Bac. and Mus. Doc. at Cambridge. I recollect 
that during the time I was studying with him, 
he was working hard at the composition of his 
" Paradise Lost," which was performed at the 
New Philharmonic at Exeter Hall on 11 June, 
1853. This cantata displayed much musician-like 
feeling, as well as skill in orchestration, and 
one could not but admire the earnest manner in 
which in his music he had endeavoured to soar 
to the sublime heights that Milton's poem attains 



M 



162 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

in picturing a theme wellnigh beyond man's 
grasp. 

To Dr. Wylde is due the honour of having 
introduced the music of "Lohengrin" in England, 
as far as it was possible to do so without the stage, 
and that too at a time when nothing too severe 
could be said about Wagner, as a composer, by 
the majority of the English critics and musicians. 
This interesting performance took place at a 
New Philharmonic concert in St. James's Hall on 
11 June, 1873, when Titiens sang the part of Elsa 
with great dramatic power. 

As a musician Dr. Wylde was very deeply read 
and highly cultured, and had moreover great 
enthusiasm for his art ; but as an orchestral con- 
ductor he unfortunately did not hold a good posi- 
tion with the public or the press. In my opinion 
the performances he directed at the New Philhar- 
monic Concerts suffered, not from any want of 
knowledge or appreciation of the music on his part, 
but from a lack of many of the technical require- 
ments necessary for the making of a perfect chef 
cForchestre. Conductors, like poets, are born, not 
made, although of course opportunities are neces- 
sary for gaining experience. 

It does not follow that a fine musician must 
necessarily be a good orchestral conductor. Special 
qualifications are essential : first, he must possess 



CONDUCTORS AND PERFORMERS 163 

a wonderfully quick eye for reading from the 
full score, and an equally quick ear in detect- 
ing false notes at rehearsals. A conductor must 
be of a passionate temperament, and be in full 
sympathy with the composer whose work he is 
interpreting ; he must know, too, how much to 
leave to the performers. In an orchestral work 
there are numerous points in the music which are 
practically solos for the particular instruments 
which interpret them, and he must, therefore, 
avoid handicapping the players by unduly interfer- 
ing with the artistic rendering of these points. An 
inexperienced conductor frequently makes a mis- 
take by beating time in a manner that is too unre- 
lenting in its strictness. 

This remark calls forth some reflections in 
reference to the present state of public opinion 
on orchestral performances, as compared with 
that which existed when I was a young man. 

There has probably never been an age in the 
history of music when hero-worship was so much 
in evidence as it is at the present day, and in 
regard to orchestral music, what lovers of it 
clamour for is a celebrated conductor. They flock 
to the concert-room to hear some great work of 
Beethoven or Wagner, and whilst listening to the 
performance under their favourite conductor, they 
regard him in the light of a magician, whose magic 



164 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

wand conjures up the beautiful sounds which fill 
the hall. And as a matter of fact they are fully 
justified in their measure of praise. For, after all, 
the finest orchestra with an inefficient conductor 
might be likened to an army of heroes led by an 
incompetent general. Nevertheless, I recollect that 
formerly, at the conclusion of a performance of 
some orchestral work, one heard the names of certain 
members of the orchestra spoken of in admiration. 
Amateurs would remark how beautifully Lazarus 
had played the clarinet solos ; how grand was 
Harper's tone on the trumpet ; how silvery in 
effect were the notes of Pratten's flute, and so on. 

Nowadays we seldom inquire who is playing; 
the names of those who perform the solo instru- 
ments among the wind instruments are little known 
to the musical public. Orchestral performers are 
almost looked upon as machines, or as if they were 
the stops of an organ, very beautiful in tone and 
effect. 

Few of the public who attend concerts have any 
idea of the high musician-like requirements neces- 
sary to make a good orchestral performer. Not 
only must he be a thorough master of the particu- 
lar instrument he has taken up, but he must be 
thoroughly reliable in ensemble playing. 

Modern music makes enormous demands upon 
the orchestral player : the rhythms are frequently 



CONDUCTORS AND PERFORMERS 165 

so broken up and complicated, that it is wonderful 
how he can hold his own and avoid coming to 
grief. He must, indeed, often feel as if the other 
instruments, instead of giving help to him, are doing 
all in their power to put him out. In fact it 
frequently happens that from his standpoint every- 
thing seems wrong and incoherent, yet he knows 
that if he keeps strict time all will sound well. 

But some people will say, surely some of the 
instruments of percussion, such as the triangle and 
cymbals, must be quite easy to manage, and then 
they have generally very little to do. 

A story, which bears on this subject, was told 
me by a member of the committee of the Sacred 
Harmonic Society in regard to a performance 
given by this society of Cherubim's Requiem in 
C Minor. At one point in this celebrated Requiem, 
viz. in the " Dies Irse," the gong 1 comes in for one 
note only, but that note fortissimo. 

At the meeting of the society previous to the 
performance, one of the committee, who went in 
for economy (there is always some one whose hobby 
it is to find out others' extravagance) this par- 
ticular member, then, complained that it seemed to 
him absurd to engage a performer only to play 

1 In the printed edition of Cherubim's Requiem in C Minor the 
gong is omitted, but it was nevertheless included in the composer's 
original score. See note in Edward Bellassis' ' ' Memorials of Cheru- 
bini " (New Edition) : Cornish Bros. 



166 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

a single note, which note possibly no one would be 
any the wiser were it omitted. " Three guineas for 
one note," said he, "is reckless waste of money. 
Why ! I will undertake to play that note myself." 
" That is all very well," said another member, 
" but suppose you come in a bar too soon ? " The 
economical member, however, was thoroughly in 
earnest in what he proposed, and put it to the 
meeting, who accepted his offer, but on the condi- 
tion that if he should play the note on the gong at 
a wrong part of the music he should incur the 
penalty of a fine of ten guineas. 'This caused the 
E.M. to reflect, and he wisely determined not to 
undertake the risk. 

Another story somewhat similar I heard from 
my father. It has, however, often been told in 
various forms. 

At the rehearsal of some orchestral piece in con- 
nexion with a theatrical performance that my 
father, as a boy, was engaged for, the orchestra was 
rehearsing a part of the music in which the trom- 
bone was only used occasionally in the piece, and 
that at very long intervals. The manager of the 
theatre, who was no musician, happened to be pre- 
sent, and noticed that the trombone player, who 
had been doing nothing for a considerable time, 
took up his instrument, played a few notes, and 
then put it down again in a very unconcerned 



CONDUCTORS AND PERFORMERS 167 

manner. He kept his eye upon the player, and 
seeing that he was still idle, his wrath, which had 
been working up to fever heat, could contain itself 
no longer. He called out to the orchestra in 
savage tones : " Stop ! I have been watching that 
trombone player for the last ten minutes, and he 
has not played three notes the whole time. He 
shall be discharged from the orchestra." When 
the astonished trombone player could obtain a 
hearing, he endeavoured to explain matters by 
telling the irate manager that he had a hundred 
and thirteen bars rest. " You scoundrel ! " ex- 
claimed the manager with an oath, " I do not pay 
you to rest, 1 pay you to play." 

To return to Dr. Wylde, whatever his faults 
were as a conductor, those who followed his career 
hi regard to the New Philharmonic Concerts were 
unanimous in their opinion of him as being an 
excellent manager and good man of business. 

In 1874 he entered into an arrangement with 
Herr W. Ganz to divide the conducting of the 
concerts between them, which arrangement con- 
tinued until 1879, when Ganz took over the entire 
management. He thus became sole chefdorchestre, 
which important post he successfully held up to 
the year 1882, when the New Philharmonic Con- 
certs came to an end, having flourished for upwards 
of thirty years. 



168 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

It was at one of these concerts, whilst Ganz was 
the conductor, that my overture to Shakespeare's 
" Winter's Tale," which I have already spoken of, 
was again performed, and 1 had on the occasion a 
reception which I shall always look back upon 
with pride. 

The recollection of the New Philharmonic Con- 
certs calls to my mind many a fine pianist or 
violinist of former times. Some of these I heard 
before I went to Germany, others after I had re- 
turned to England. Among the pianists was 
Emile Prudent, born in 1817, who appeared at 
these concerts in 1853. He had a charming touch 
and most fluent execution. Another pianist who 
excelled in these qualities was Alfred Jaell, whom 
I often heard at the New Philharmonic and else- 
where. Jaell was of small stature, but so stout 
that it was surprising, with his exceedingly short 
arms, that he was able to get sufficiently near the 
keyboard to give his fingers a fair chance of doing 
their duty. All who heard him were glad that he 
overcame this difficulty with success, for he was a 
splendid pianist. He was born in 1832. Among 
the violinists whose performances I became ac- 
quainted with at these concerts was Erneste 
Sivori, born as far back as 1817. He was a pupil 
of Paganini, to whom perhaps he owed his beau- 
tiful tone. To hear him in the slow movement of 



CONDUCTORS AND PERFORMERS 169 

the Mendelssohn Concerto was akin to listening to 
some singer with a magical voice, his tone was so 
ethereal in effect. Then 1 often heard Henri 
Vieuxtemps, the composer of many concertos for 
the instrument he played, the difficulties of which 
have sorely pressed upon the capacities of the violin 
student, causing him hours of toil. But Vieux- 
temps knew not difficulty all appeared easy to 
him. It is therefore not to be wondered at that he 
is said to have been very merciless with his pupils 
if they failed hi grappling with the feats of bril- 
liancy he exacted from them. He was born in 
1820, and studied with the celebrated De Beriot. 
But the poet on his instrument was Ernst, 
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, to give him his name 
in full, who was born in 1814. Tall and lank in 
figure, his pose was the idealistic impersonation of 
a violinist. His expressive style in pathetic melo- 
dies drew tears from his audience. His execution 
was enormous, although occasionally marred by 
uncertain intonation. Another master of the 
violin was Henri Wieniawski, full of fire and 
dash. He was a native of Poland, and born 
in 1835. 

All these great players are now of the past, and 
although then* places have been filled by per- 
formers of consummate genius, it is a question as 
to whether certain specialities that were noticed in 



170 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

the playing of these great artists of bygone times 
are not in a way a lost art ; just as is the method 
of colouring by the old masters in painting. 

No doubt, in lieu of these specialities, others of a 
more demonstrative kind have been substituted, 
more in accordance with the demand for that 
passionate sensationalism which is so prevalent a 
feature of the age we live in. 

It may not be out of place here to say a few 
words about the celebrated Sigismond Thalberg 
(born in 1812). As a pianist he might be described 
as a stepping-stone between the older and newer 
styles of pianoforte playing. I heard him at one 
of his last recitals in 1863. Judging from his 
fantasias, I expected a rather wild style of playing ; 
instead of which, I was surprised at the wonder- 
ful neatness of his execution, even when allied 
to extraordinary feats of bravura. His manner 
at the piano was free from any eccentricity. In 
the most complicated passages he appeared to 
be quite calm and collected. I was much struck 
with the rapidity of the staccato octaves in his 
" L'Elisir d'Amore." His rendering of the repeated 
notes in triplets which occur in his "Theme original 
et etude " was quite a revelation, and roused the 
audience to the utmost enthusiasm. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL 

TN the year 1876 I received an invitation to join 
-- the staff of professors at a new and important 
institution, the National Training School of Music, 
and the invitation came from no less a person than 
Arthur Sullivan, who wrote personally to me. 
Of course, I accepted the appointment with 
pleasure. 

A little time after there was a formal opening 
of the Training School by H.R.H. the Duke of 
Edinburgh at the commodious building 1 specially 
designed for it, and which was the munificent gift 
of Sir Charles Freake. The opening ceremony, 
which took place in 1876, proved to be very 
interesting. The newly appointed professors were 
introduced by Arthur Sullivan, the Principal, to 
the Duke of Edinburgh, who shook hands most 
warmly with each professor. 

It seems only yesterday that I entered upon my 
duties at this institution. I fully realized the im- 

1 This building is now the local of the Royal College of Organists. 

171 



172 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

portant nature of the post to which I had been 
appointed. I was not engaged to teach pianoforte 
merely as an accomplishment, but to train students 
to become competent professors. 

The experience I had gained in Leipsic, and 
to which I had added by years of teaching, came 
in most opportunely. I felt, too, I had a free hand 
in giving the students placed under my care a 
more thorough technical training than would have 
been possible in ordinary educational schools. 

It is satisfactory to note in how many cases my 
efforts in the direction of forming a sound tech- 
nique have borne good fruit ; not a few of those 
who studied with me at the National Training 
School having been most successful, both as 
pianists and professors. Amongst these I have 
only to name Herbert Sharpe, who was for six 
years one of my pianoforte pupils at this institu- 
tion, and who is now one of the most esteemed 
professors at the Royal College of Music. Then 
again, Dr. Walter Alcock, now Organist of the 
Chapel Royal, studied pianoforte with me, as did 
Dr. Sweeting, now Master of Music at Winchester 
College, and Miss Monimia Twist, now a professor 
at the Guildhall School. 

That the National Training School to a great 
extent served as a model on which the Royal 
College of Music was formed, must be evident to 



THE NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL 173 

all who have been connected with the two institu- 
tions ; nevertheless, there were distinctive features 
between the Training School and the College. 

The Training School did not throw its doors 
open to paying students to the same extent that 
the Royal College does, for, with few exceptions, 
only those who had gained scholarships were 
admitted as students. These scholarships lasted 
for five years, and were sufficiently numerous 1 to 
make a goodly show of students in regard both to 
numbers and talent. But there was one weak 
point in the scheme, which was, that the scholar- 
ships subscribed by the donors were for the limited 
period of five years only, after which the funds 
that supported them ceased entirely. 

It could not have been intended that the institu- 
tion was to exist only for that short period. But 
to me it never seemed clear what was to happen 
after the expiration of the scholarships. This 
difficulty, apparently, was never surmounted. The 
donors of the scholarships were invited to continue 
their grants for another year, which, in the majority 
of cases, they consented to do. Thus, the National 
Training School existed altogether for six years, 
after which it disappeared to make way, however, 
for that still more important institution, the 
Royal College of Music. 

1 The number of these scholarships was eighty-five in all. 



174 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

Apart from the difference in regard to the lines 
on which the Training School and the College 
were founded, there were features in the system of 
instruction at the former institution which differed 
from that of the latter. One of these was the 
mode of conducting the examinations of the 
students in regard to practical subjects. At 
the Royal College the students are examined in 
private ; but at the Training School all the pro- 
fessors and pupils were allowed to be present at 
the examinations. This, I think, was a very 
interesting feature, but one, however, that would 
be scarcely practicable at the Royal College, with 
its more numerous students. The examinations, 
therefore, were like concerts, and had the advan- 
tage of giving opportunities to the professors of 
hearing students other than their own perform. 
Thus, those who were prominent by their talent 
made a reputation in the institution more rapidly 
than would otherwise have been possible. 

The concerts and examinations were held in the 
West Theatre of the Albert Hall. The professors 
were seated on the platform quite in proximity to 
the student performing, while the other students 
remained in the body of the room. 

One evening, going in during the progress of one 
of the concerts, I heard Chopin's Impromptu being 
played in a manner that was quite remarkable, in 



THE NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL 175 

regard to both style and execution. The style 
coincided so exactly with the ideal I had formed of 
what the music suggested, that it was a pleasure 
for me to hear the piece thus interpreted. It was 
all the more surprising as the player was but a boy 
of thirteen years. I asked who it was playing so 
beautifully ; and was told that it was Eugene 
D'Albert, a pupil of Pauer. My estimate of the 
boy's performance was certainly not overrated, 
and time only went to prove that in this per- 
formance were the germs of the great artist he 
eventually became. 

The examinations held just before Easter were 
conducted by an examiner not belonging to the 
Training School, a system which in a modified form 
is continued at the Royal College. 

Charles Halle was generally examiner for the 
piano at the Training School. 

At one of these examinations a student had 
chosen Mendelssohn's Capriccio in B minor, op. 
22, and as in the cases of pieces with orchestral 
accompaniment the orchestra was represented by 
a second piano (a custom very much in vogue at 
conservatoires, both here and abroad), there should 
have been another student ready to play this piano 
part. On this occasion, however, no student came 
forward ; thereupon Arthur Sullivan volunteered to 
fill in the orchestral accompaniments from memory. 



176 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

This he did most admirably, except in one part 
where his memory temporarily failed him. During 
this contretemps, it was not a little amusing to 
observe the good-naturedly malicious smile that 
came over Halle's face whilst poor Sullivan was in 
difficulties. 

The greatest artists, however, have their occa- 
sional lapses of memory. 

It is even said that once, at a concert, Charles 
Halls' himself fell into an unfortunate dilemma 
whilst playing Mendelssohn's fourth Characteristic 
Piece, sometimes called " Hugendleben." After 
the repetition of the first theme, instead of going on 
to the coda he went back to the commencement, 
which obliged him to recapitulate all the earlier 
part of the piece. This he did more than once, 
each time finding himself again at the beginning. 
But at last he found his way out of the maze, and 
extricated himself from what was an extremely 
awkward position for a pianist to be in. 

Arthur Sullivan did not remain at the head of 
the Training School until its close, but owing to 
pressure of work resigned the post of Principal in 
favour of Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Stainer, who 
occupied that position for one year. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC 

AFTER the Training School ceased work various 
** rumours were afloat in regard to the founding 
of a new institution, somewhat on the same lines. 
It was at one time proposed that this new institu- 
tion should amalgamate with the Royal Academy 
of Music ; but there were apparently insurmount- 
able difficulties in the way of this scheme. A 
meeting, in fact, was called to which the Professors 
of the Royal Academy and those of the late 
Training School were invited, to consider the situa- 
tion. I received an invitation to attend it ; but 
owing to a serious case of illness at home, I was 
unable to be present. 

It was, at last, resolved to establish a new 
national College of Music, in which the leading 
feature should be the founding of numerous 
scholarships. For this purpose the representative 
bodies of the most important towns in the United 
Kingdom were invited to subscribe ; and, moreover, 
the Prince of Wales (now King Edward VII) gave 

N I 77 



178 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

his patronage and support to the undertaking. 
The result was most gratifying, and the appeal was 
so well responded to that the fifty scholarships 
necessary for the granting of the Royal Charter 
were subscribed for in a comparatively short space 
of time. 

The formal opening of the College on 7 May, 
1883, at which I was present, was a most important 
and interesting event. It took place in the same 
building that had been occupied by the Training 
School, and which was to be for several years the 
local of the new college. 

The Prince of Wales made a most impressive 
speech, in which he declared the Royal College of 
Music to be opened. His Royal Highness then 
announced the conferring of knighthood upon 
George Grove (who was to be the Director), as well 
as upon Arthur Sullivan and George Macfarren, 
the Principal of the Royal Academy of Music. 

I happened to be sitting on one side of Macfarren 
at the time, and Arthur Sullivan on the other. 
Macfarren, from what he was saying, seemed to be 
diffident as to accepting the honour that had been 
just conferred upon him ; but both Sullivan and 
myself were of opinion that he should not refuse 
a distinction to which he was in every way entitled. 

I was glad that in the end Macfarren accepted 
the honour, as no musician more thoroughly 



THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC 179 

deserved it than he. He had great originality of 
thought and, as a composer, would probably have 
had still greater success if his early composition 
studies had been formed on the more modern lines 
to which he afterwards became so devotedly at- 
tached. He was quite an enthusiast for Brahms ; 
but in regard to Wagner, I do not remember his 
giving an opinion in my hearing. Macfarren's 
greatest work was, no doubt, his oratorio, " St. John 
the Baptist," which was produced at the Bristol 
Festival of 1873. I heard it when it was given at 
the Sacred Harmonic in 1874, and was much struck 
with the dramatic effect produced by the manner 
in which the chorus describes the dancing of the 
daughter of Herodias before Pilate. The orchestra 
at this point has a quaint and weird dance rhythm, 
whilst the chorus utter the words, " She danceth ! " 
The whole of the scene is very cleverly worked 
out, and the composer has avoided anything in- 
appropriate in the music descriptive of the dance, 
that might be considered out of place in an 
oratorio. 

I recollect on one occasion dining with Macfarren 
at his house in Hamilton Terrace. After dinner 
I played some of Bach's Fugues to him, as I knew 
how great was his devotion to the composer of the 
immortal forty-eight. Mrs. Macfarren for I think 
this was before knighthood had been conferred 



180 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6 IMPRESSIONS 

upon her husband seemed to deplore the amount 
of time that he was obliged to sacrifice to com- 
position in order to carry out the Festival commis- 
sions which the success of " St. John the Baptist " 
had led to. These commissions had come to him 
somewhat late in life, at the time when he had 
entirely lost his eyesight. His work, therefore, 
must have been attended with difficulties one 
would have thought to have been almost insur- 
mountable. 

In the history of great men, how often we find 
that their finest works have been produced under 
circumstances of stress or misfortune ! Mozart 
whilst upon his death-bed added immortal notes to 
his Requiem. 1 Beethoven became totally deaf during 
the latter part of his life ; while George Macfarren, 
like the poet Milton, was stricken blind. It would be 
difficult to say which of the two misfortunes is the 
greater disaster to a musician. Sound being the 
element of his work, it would seem that deafness 

1 The commission for this Requiem by a mysterious stranger prob- 
ably had a more or less disquieting effect upon so impressionable a 
temperament as that of Mozart. When I was a boy I quite believed 
the legend that Mozart had not long before his last illness been visited 
by an angel, who made him promise to write a Requiem. One's faith 
in such legends was stronger then than now. The historian, to the 
disappointment of the impressionable, has demolished many a tale of 
romance or of superstition. The mysterious stranger, whom the 
imaginative converted into an angel, we know was no other than 
Leutgeb, the steward of Count Walsegg, who thought to palm off 
Mozart's work as his own. 



THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC 181 

would prove as fatal to his art as blindness to that 
of the painter. But a composer who cannot hear, 
if his imagination be vivid, can conjure up sounds 
in his mind and put them down in his score, and 
though he may never actually hear his works they 
may live to be a source of enjoyment to others, as 
did so many of Beethoven's works. 

But the blind composer is at a terrible disadvan- 
tage when writing for orchestra, for it is highly 
important that he should be able to look at his 
score, in order to calculate the balance of sound 
that will result from the combination of instru- 
ments employed. Macfarren was obliged to dictate 
to an amanuensis the name and time-value of each 
individual note that he intended for his orchestral 
score ! A slow and laborious process, enough in 
itself to have frozen his ideas at their source. It 
was indeed a marvellous feat that he accomplished. 

I may here incidentally mention that George 
Macfarren, who took an active part in musical 
matters, was present at a meeting of musicians at 
which the permission of the trustees of Mendels- 
sohn was demanded to allow that composer's 
posthumous works to be published. Macfarren, I 
was told, spoke in a most excited manner on the 
subject, pointing out the hardship it was to lovers 
of Mendelssohn that such treasures of art should 
be withheld from them. 



182 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

It was owing perhaps to Macfarren's strenuous 
efforts that, shortly after, the Reformation Sym- 
phony and other important works of Mendelssohn 
were rescued from the legal bondage in which they 
had lain so many years. 

Amongst those posthumous works, was a short 
Ave Maria, which Mendelssohn intended to have 
incorporated in his opera " Lorely," and in which a 
note for the horns, as an inner part, is sustained 
during the entire piece. It is wonderful what 
varied and interesting harmonies Mendelssohn has 
managed to introduce whilst this one note is per- 
sistently held on. I heard it performed for the 
first time in England at a concert conducted by 
Benedict. The effect was most charming. The 
sustained note conveyed a feeling of peaceful 
solemnity. 

I am afraid that I have wandered far from the 
subject that was uppermost in my mind when I 
commenced this chapter, though not to the extent 
of causing me to forget it altogether. 

After the opening ceremony of the Royal 
College of Music had been duly accomplished, the 
first business to be done was the selecting of the 
scholars from the numerous candidates that offered 
themselves. These came from all parts of the 
United Kingdom. 

The examination of these candidates took place 



THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC 183 

before the Director and the whole of the teaching 
staff of the College. Sir George Grove was quite 
in his element amongst the assembled musicians, 
one of whom was Madame Goldschmidt (Jenny 
Lind). In the earlier days of the College she was 
one of the professors for singing. 

A large proportion of the scholarships were 
awarded to pianoforte candidates, several of whom 
were placed in my class. 

On the first day of my instruction at the College 
I felt as if I were resuming my work at the Train- 
ing School. Even the room in which I taught 
was the same, but I realized the added importance 
of my new position and did my best to rise to the 
occasion. 

In addition to my pianoforte class I undertook 
one in harmony, which I continued for a few years, 
until my pianoforte class became too large for me 
to be able to devote time to both. I therefore, 
with the permission of the director, gave myself 
up entirely to my pianoforte students. Amongst 
these were several of great talent, as their subse- 
quent careers have fully proved. One of my best 
pupils during the earlier history of the College was 
Marmaduke Barton, who is now a professor at the 
College. 

Having, as already stated, been acquainted with 
Sir George Grove from the time of my boyhood, I 



184 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

was delighted to find myself brought into still 
closer relationship with him. For twice a week, 
on the days that I attended the College, I met him 
at luncheon, during which he enlivened us all by 
his versatile and witty conversation, which seemed 
never to flag. His memory was wonderful. He 
could quote whole pages from works he had read 
when he was quite a young man. 

He always had a cheerful ring in his conversa- 
tion, and he often showed how vast was his know- 
ledge upon almost every subject; yet he was never 
pedantic. Occasionally his remarks became of a 
somewhat personal character, not without a touch 
of banter, but they were never sarcastic or ill- 
natured. 

George Watson, the late Registrar of the College, 
was likewise a very genial companion at these 
gatherings, and most popular with all at the insti- 
tution. His death about a year after the opening 
of the present building of the College, the munifi- 
cent gift of the late Samson Fox, was deplored by 
all who knew him. I ought not here to omit 
mentioning the fact that, to a great extent, it was 
owing to George Watson's energy and power of 
organization that the Associated Board was 
launched with such success. 



CHAPTER XIX 
THE ASSOCIATED BOARD 

TN the history of music in this country during 
-^- the middle of the last century, musical exami- 
nations do not seem to have received the attention 
that is given to them nowadays. Even when I 
was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, 
I do not recollect once being examined during the 
four years I was studying there, except on the 
occasion of the two scholarships that I gained. 
This would seem strange at the present day, when 
examinations are considered to be all-important. 

Although the yearly examinations at the Royal 
Academy and the Royal College are looked for- 
ward to by the students with varied feelings, in 
which nervousness is perhaps predominant, all 
concur in valuing their importance. These exami- 
nations have generally for their object the defining 
of the progress of the student. But those of the 
Associated Board fix a standard of proficiency for 
which it gives a certificate, and this standard varies 
according to the grade chosen by the candidate. 

185 



186 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6- IMPRESSIONS 

There is no doubt that the first idea of this 
latter style of musical examination originated 
with Trinity College, London. Some years after- 
wards the Royal Academy of Music followed most 
successfully on similar lines. It was thus fully 
proved that there was an ever-growing desire on 
the part of the public to have their sons and 
daughters examined in music. It may here be in- 
cidentally remarked that on the Continent no such 
general public feeling for musical examinations 
seems to exist. It would therefore appear that 
this love of being examined is ' peculiar to the 
English-speaking race ; for we find it extending 
to all our colonies and dominions. 

It was indeed a happy thought that led to the 
Royal Academy and the Royal College joining 
hands, for the purpose of conducting musical 
examinations, under the title of the Associated 
Board. All who have followed the progress of 
this important body concur in their respect for the 
memory of the late Lord Charles Bruce, the first 
Chairman of the Board. It was greatly owing to 
his tact and judgment that the Associated Board 
was started with such success. The influence he 
brought to bear by his geniality and amiability of 
character was fully reciprocated by its members, 
so that from the commencement perfect accord 
attended their deliberations. This salutary feature 



THE ASSOCIATED BOARD 187 

continues to mark the Board's proceedings under 
its present accomplished chairman. As a result 
their labours are rewarded with continued and 
increasing success. 

It was in the second year after the Associated 
Board had started work that the Prince of Wales, 
as its President, took the chair for the first time at 
the meeting which was held at Marlborough House 
on 20 July, 1891. I was present on this occasion, 
and was deeply impressed with the keen interest 
His Royal Highness manifested in the proceed- 
ings of the Board, as well as by the businesslike 
accuracy he brought to bear upon the details of its 
work. The beautiful saloon where the meeting 
took place was filled with musicians of note, the 
professors of the Royal Academy and Royal 
College of Music being strongly represented. 
We all felt how great an encouragement royalty 
had given us in the cause of musical art. 

I well recollect the first examination tour to 
which I had been appointed by the Board in con- 
junction with Arthur O'Leary. We went first 
to Middlesbrough, and afterwards examined at 
several other towns on the Yorkshire coast. 

During this tour I had the opportunity of 
making myself personally acquainted with places 
I had only read of before, or studied in my school- 
days in connexion with geography. 



188 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

I learnt indeed many things that no books could 
have taught me. I found, too, how often the 
reality differs from the picture one forms in one's 
mind. 

Bath struck me as even more beautiful than 
I had anticipated, when I first visited that city 
with Mr. John Thomas, the celebrated harpist and 
my fellow-examiner. On this tour we also went 
to Bristol, where we received great hospitality 
from the local representative. 

As some of my readers may not be aware of 
what constitutes a local representative, I will do 
my best to explain. In the plan carried out by 
the Associated Board, certain towns are chosen for 
centres, to which the candidates from neighbouring 
places come up for examination. As it is im- 
portant that there should be some one at the centre 
to carry out the necessary arrangements, such as 
the securing of an eligible room, with a suitable 
piano, and other details necessary for the comfort 
of the candidates and their examiners ; a gentle- 
man is invited to perform these important duties, 
and he is known as the local representative. 

It is curious how the pianoforte candidates are 
almost everywhere in the majority as to numbers. 
There are, nevertheless, a fair proportion of vio- 
linists, singers, and occasionally a few candidates 
who are harpists or organists. 



THE ASSOCIATED BOARD 189 

In regard to the latter, the examination not 
infrequently takes place at some church in which 
there is a suitable organ. I recollect on one 
occasion the blower failed to put in an appearance 
when my fellow-examiner and myself had to test 
the merits of an organ candidate. The only way 
out of the difficulty was for one of us to blow the 
organ whilst the other examined. Fortunately, 
my confrere most generously offered to blow whilst 
I conducted the examination, an arrangement 
which was certainly to my advantage. 

On another occasion when we examined an organ 
candidate we were more fortunate. This was at 
Bristol, where we were provided with an excellent 
chamber organ, the bellows of which were worked 
by hydraulic power. As the organ was at the 
house of Mr. George Riseley, it gave me the 
opportunity of making the acquaintance of this 
accomplished musician, who has done so much 
good in disseminating a love for choral and orches- 
tral music by the concerts he has conducted. 

In addition to the local centre work that I have 
been describing there are the school examina- 
tions of the Associated Board. These are generally 
held at some convent or school, each examination 
being conducted by one professor only, upon whom 
rests the sole responsibility as to whether the 
candidate succeeds or fails. 



190 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES <Sr> IMPRESSIONS 

The musician always finds much to interest him 
in conducting these examinations. In the elemen- 
tary division especially, he meets with many in- 
stances of budding talent. Perhaps a little girl of 
nine comes in with her violin, which has to be 
tuned for her. A most serious business ! Then 
she takes it up in quite a professional manner, as- 
suming the same air of importance as if she were 
performing at a concert. 

Some of these little ones do really surprise us 
by the extraordinary command they have over the 
instrument, proving that more child wonders exist 
than are represented in the concert-room. 

As for the juvenile pianists, they abound at these 
examinations, and very prettily some of them 
play. Fortunately, in the elementary division no 
marks are awarded for judicious use of the pedal, 
for it is seldom that these children can reach this 
important adjunct of the piano. 

How intensely curious they are, too, to know 
whether they have met with success. Perhaps 
one of them has the courage to say in a timid 
whisper, "Do tell me if I have passed." Then 
when you have informed her that it is against the 
rules to divulge the decision arrived at, she asks, 
innocently, " Has my sister passed ? " 

The elder candidates, if girls in their teens can 
be so specified, generally suffer from nervousness. 



THE ASSOCIATED BOARD 191 

They seldom appear to have the same amount of 
confidence shown by the little ones. 

I have often been astonished at the proficiency 
displayed by candidates in the higher division, and 
wonder how they could have reached such a 
standard of excellence with the limited amount of 
time that can be allotted to music among their 
many other studies. 

It does one good to see a boy candidate enter 
the lists, for it is certain that as he grows older 
music will become a part of his existence, refining 
his mind and placing before him a higher ideal of 
life. Added to this, he is actually learning the 
language of music. After all, music is a language 
in itself! And, if he perseveres, he will later on 
be able to enter into fully, and appreciate the 
beauties contained in the works of the immortal 
composers. 

One important feature in the details of these 
examinations is the selection of music embodied in 
the syllabus of the various divisions. The pieces 
and studies are always chosen with great skill and 
judgment, and in themselves form a musical curri- 
culum of the highest order, divided into various 
grades of difficulty, thus enabling the youthful 
student to mount higher and higher by easy steps, 
until he arrives at the temple of art and becomes 
enrolled among her most ardent votaries. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE GUILDHALL SCHOOL MUSIC IN 
ALDERMANBURY 

T OOKING back over many years, the recollec- 
^ tion of certain events in our lives is sometimes 
so vivid that it seems only yesterday that they oc- 
curred. At other times, the same events appear so 
remote that we wonder how we can recall them to 
memory. I think, however, that nothing gives one 
the "long while ago" feeling so strongly as coming 
across an old letter. The very paper upon which 
it was written has turned yellow, the ink has faded ; 
and when, as is often the case, the writer of it has 
passed away, one feels indeed how heavy the hand 
of time can be. 

Some such thoughts came to me as I looked 
over an old letter the other day and found it 
dated 1880. As this letter marked at the time 
a new era in the history of musical education as 
well as in my own occupations, I will give it in 

full. 

192 



MUSIC IN ALDERMANBURY 193 

"Feb. 19, 1880. 
" MY DEAR SIR, 

" I find it impossible to pay you a visit on 
Sunday, so write that which I intended speaking 
to you about. 

" It is proposed to found a school of music by 
the City of London Music Deputation, and as I 
have been requested to organise a staff of the 
most efficient available professors for their ap- 
proval, I shall be obliged by your kindly letting 
me know whether you are willing to accept a class 
for pianoforte ; terms to be agreed upon between 
yourself and the committee when the necessary 
arrangements are completed. 

" Believe me, 

"Yours faithfully, 

"H. WEIST-HILL." 

This letter, as will be easily surmised, referred 
to the forming of the Guildhall School of Music ; 
but it would appear from it that the title of the 
school had not been fixed upon when Mr. Weist 
Hill wrote to me. In reply I stated my terms, 
which were accepted, and about the September 
following I received a letter informing me that a 
class awaited me to commence with at the tem- 
porary premises of the school. 

These premises had evidently been used as 
offices and warehouses for some City concern, 
o 



194 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6r> IMPRESSIONS 

They consisted of the house known as 16 Alder- 
manbury together with a building in the rear, 
which were separated by a courtyard ; but com- 
munication between the two was established by 
means of a covered passage. On the first floor in 
the front building was the principal's room, facing 
the street. The back room on the same floor, 
overlooking the courtyard, was the room in which 
I held my class for several years. It was, however, 
in the principal's room that I gave my first lesson 
the first, I have been told, given in the school ; 
although the late Madame St. Viard Louis, a lady 
professor, is said to have claimed this prerogative. 

I should have preferred the principal's room for 
my work, as it was exceedingly quiet ; whereas 
from my room were heard, all too plainly, the 
mingled sounds of music from several classrooms 
whose windows, as did my own, all opened on to 
the courtyard. 

In summer-time we could not well keep the 
windows closed, and the sounds that issued from 
these rooms, although separately they might have 
been harmonious enough, collectively were most 
discordant. The window opposite mine was so 
near that it looked as if, by making a long arm, it 
were possible to shake hands across the courtyard 
with the professor who occupied the room on the 
other side. 



MUSIC IN ALDERMANBURY 195 

Here Signer Ferri, a popular singing-master, was 
perhaps giving a lesson to a very dramatic and all- 
too-powerful soprano, whose telling voice mingled 
with the strains of a violinist in the room above ; 
whilst a little to the right, in another room, a con- 
certo for pianoforte was being handled vigorously 
by some ambitious student. It seemed unneces- 
sary for me to counsel my pupils to add to the 
musical vibrations which poured into the court- 
yard from every side ; yet, nevertheless, I imagine 
that I did not fail in doing my duty in this 
respect. 

The lovers of the polyphonic in music might 
have heard some curious combinations of har- 
mony (?) in this courtyard. Had there been a 
possibility of preserving the strains, who knows, 
they might have been valuable to some ultra- 
modern composer of the more advanced school. 

Signer Ferri, whose name I have mentioned, 
seemed to live eternally in the room that was 
opposite to mine. However early I commenced 
my class, there I saw Signer Ferri with a pupil 
beside him, either warbling some solfeggi, or sing- 
ing, in a most tragic manner, some Italian scena. 
When I had finished my work in the evening, 
there still was Signer Ferri discoursing sweet 
music with some student, whilst more were wait- 
ing their turn to have the coveted lesson, for he 



196 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

was immensely popular with his pupils. I was 
told that he was thus fully engaged from morning 
till night, every day in the week, and that he made 
something like a thousand a year. His success, 
I am afraid, entailed too great a strain upon his 
physical powers, for one day, some few years after 
the school had been opened, I heard that he had 
died, after a short illness, at the age of fifty-five. 

Notwithstanding many drawbacks, especially the 
absence of quiet in the teaching-rooms, I liked 
the old quarters of the Guildhall School. The 
quaint panelled rooms, and the incongruity of the 
building as the local of so successful a music- 
school, seemed to add a special interest of its own, 
somewhat of the same kind as that which one feels 
when a shabbily garbed man is pointed out to 
you as the head of some important commercial 
concern. 

It was in the old building that some of my most 
successful pupils received their training in piano- 
forte playing from me. Amongst these were 
R. Orlando Morgan and W. J. Barton, who were 
afterwards appointed as professors at the School. 

By a curious coincidence, at the time W. J. 
Barton was studying with me at the Guildhall 
School, Marmaduke Barton was one of my class 
at the Royal College of Music, both being pupils 
of whom I was justly proud. I understood 



MUSIC IN ALDERM ANBURY 197 

that, in consequence, occasionally some confusion 
occurred, the meritorious achievements of the 
one Barton being, by mistake, credited to the 
other. 

The continued and ever - increasing influx of 
pupils to the Guildhall School began seriously to 
tax the space-limit of the Aldermanbury premises. 
The large rooms, and even the passages, were 
subdivided into small classrooms by the aid of 
wooden partitions, in order to accommodate a 
greater number of pupils. These extemporized 
rooms were most unsatisfactory for teaching pur- 
poses, for the thin partitions which divided them, 
offered practically no hindrance to the transmis- 
sion of sound from one room to another. If two 
pianoforte masters were giving lessons in adjoining 
rooms it had all the effect of a duet for two pianos, 
and indeed it would have been quite excusable if 
either professor were at a loss to know which 
of the two performances was represented by his 
pupil. 

Certainly, those engaged in teaching had often 
to harden, not their hearts, but their ears against 
the trying effects of the multitude of musical 
sounds that were heard on all sides. Many a 
professor had to endure such discords as that of 
hearing a cornet from the other side of a partition 
commencing an air in B flat, whilst his pupil was 



198 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

playing in the key of A minor. But hitherto the 
school had not been invaded by the kettledrum. 
Yet one day, whilst a singing master was engaged 
in teaching, he was surprised at hearing unusual 
sounds. He little knew that in the adjacent room 
a pair of full-sized kettledrums were already in 
position, and that a timpani professor was just 
commencing to initiate his pupil in the method of 
performing a tremolo with all due effect. Our 
singing maestro, who was in blissful ignorance 
of the danger which threatened him, probably 
thought that the mysterious rumblings were due 
to some natural cause, such as distant thunder, or 
it might be that the weird sounds he heard were 
only the echoes of the ceaseless turmoil of the City 
in the midst of which the School was planted. 

A good drummer must, of course, be able to 
bring out a big tone from his instrument when a 
fortissimo sign in his part directs him to do so. The 
timpani expert must therefore have been giving his 
pupil some grand example of the volume of 
sonority possible to kettledrums, when his next- 
door neighbour was startled by a bang that he at 
first imagined to be the report of a cannon. But 
upon a continuance of sonorous thuds, the singing 
professor became aware of the true state of things, 
and there being no law by which he could order 
the drummer and his pupil away, as is possible for 



MUSIC IN ALDERMANBURY 199 

the "enraged musician" in the case of a barrel 
organ, he had to make the best of matters, and to 
await his opportunity for hearing his pupil during 
the intervals of silence which occasionally occurred. 
These intervals, however, were rare so rare that 
his patience became exhausted, and, on the first 
opportunity, he vented his indignation in re- 
gard to the matter in a powerful appeal to the 
authorities. 

It was at once admitted that a palpable griev- 
ance existed, and that, of course, he was not 
the only master whose class was disorganized by 
the terrible sounds emanating from the room in 
which the drummer gave his lessons. But the 
difficulty was to find a sound-proof room in which 
the drummer's pupil could receive instruction. A 
happy thought at last occurred to some one : Why 
not utilize the coal-cellar as a classroom for timpani 
lessons ? It was sufficiently spacious, and the pre- 
sence of coals would not perceptibly injure the 
acoustics. Strange as this proposition may sound 
to my readers, it was actually carried out, and the 
drummer and his pupil had from that time to put 
up with such extemporized accommodation as could 
be provided for them in the coal-cellar of the 
temporary premises of the School. 

These lessons must indeed have had a weird 
effect in the lugubrious precincts of the cellar, and 



200 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

certainly both master and pupil afforded a noble 
example as to what lengths enthusiasm will go in 
order to battle against the difficulties that some- 
times beset the votaries of art. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE GUILDHALL SCHOOL ITS EARLY 
HISTORY 

TT'EW of the general public now remember Mr. 
-^ Weist Hill, the first Principal of the Guildhall 
School of Music. I had met him on several occa- 
sions prior to the establishment of the School. 
One of these was at the Hereford Festival, where he 
was among the first violins of the orchestra. He 
was a man of good appearance, and above the 
average in stature. His shrewd and almost piercing 
eye, his black moustache, and mouth, sometimes sar- 
castic, sometimes facetious in expression, imparted 
to his face a character sufficiently striking, and 
was further emphasized by his dark complexion. 

The choice of Weist Hill as Principal of the 
School, came about in consequence of his connec- 
tion with an orchestra and choral society of 
which he was conductor. This society, it appears, 
had its origin in one of the suburbs south of the 
Thames. Its secretary was Mr. Charles P. Smith. 
As several of the members were City men, it was 

201 



202 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

arranged that the concerts given by this society 
should take place at the Guildhall. At one of the 
meetings held by the society in 1879, at which 
some members of the Court of Common Council 
were present, it was proposed to found a School of 
Music in the City. This proposition ultimately 
met with the favour of the Corporation, who had 
already shown sympathy in the cause of music in 
a very substantial manner in 1876, by voting 5000 
for scholarships for the National Training School of 
Music. 

In the end, it was decided to start the Guildhall 
School without loss of time in the warehouse at 
Aldermanbury, already described, with Mr. Weist 
Hill for Principal, and Mr. Charles P. Smith as 
Secretary. As they were both practical men, I 
have no doubt that the system of the new School, 
in regard to the arrangement of the studies and 
manipulation of fees, was due to them. This 
system was the secret of the unbounded success of 
the concern. At no music school, indeed, has the 
number of students ever reached the high figures 
that the Guildhall School attained when it had 
been in existence for but a few years. Should 
any one passing down Aldermanbury give a glance 
at the exterior of No. 16, where the School carried 
on its work for seven years, it would appear almost 
incredible that so small a building could have found 



EARLY HISTORY 203 

accommodation for the three thousand students that 
were wont to pass through the homely doorway. 

After the School had been at work about a year, 
evidence of what had been accomplished was made 
apparent by a concert given at the Guildhall. 

In the early history of this undertaking some of 
the most successful performances were given in con- 
junction with a choir of ladies' voices. The forma- 
tion of this choir was greatly due to the energy 
and perseverance of Mrs. Charles P. Smith, the 
Lady Superintendent of the School, who vied with 
her husband, the secretary, in her zeal for its ad- 
vancement. She had many difficulties to overcome 
before the necessary number of ladies could be 
found to constitute a choir sufficiently large to be 
effective in so vast a building as the Guildhall. In 
the end, success rewarded her efforts, and one of 
the most efficient female choirs that has ever been 
heard in public was the result. 

I little knew, when the choir had been formed, 
that indirectly it would lead to the production of a 
work of mine at one of the great musical festivals. 
Yet such was the case ; for one day Mr. Weist 
Hill asked me to compose a cantata for this choir. 
The proposal was made to me a year or two after 
my " Building of the Ship " had been produced at 
the Leeds Festival. 

Hill's request resulted in my commencing a 



204 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES &> IMPRESSIONS 

cantata for female voices on the subject of the 
" Wishing Bell," of which I will say more later on. 

Mr. Weist Hill was very anxious for me to get 
the cantata ready for his choir as soon as possible. 
Who knows, perhaps, that he may have had a fore- 
boding that, if I delayed too long, he might never 
live to hear it ? 

Some portions of the cantata were, nevertheless, 
written during his lifetime ; but his death caused 
me for a while to lose interest in it. 

As regards the choir, it continued for many 
years to be an important feature 'at the Students' 
Concerts. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE GUILDHALL SCHOOL THE NEW 
BUILDING 

I HAVE already alluded to the difficulties 
the School had to contend with in regard to 
the want of sufficient accommodation at the 
Aldermanbury premises. The Corporation there- 
fore decided to erect a building especially for it, 
and a site was chosen on the Victoria Embank- 
ment. 

Few of the professors and students heard much 
about the new building until it was completed. 
Most of us saw it, as I did, for the first time on 
the day of its opening by the Lord Mayor, in 
state, in the year 1887. 

It appeared to us almost as if some good 
magician had used his magic wand and, in one 
night, had raised up this structure for our mutual 
benefit. 

How different it seemed from the homely rooms 
in Aldermanbury ; how much more official and 

businesslike. There were excellent ideas, too, well 

205 



206 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

carried out. Convenient rooms for the Principal 
and Secretary, and offices for the Chief Clerk and 
his staff; then a separate cash department, where 
the students pay their fees, and in which they may 
well imagine themselves to be at a bank handing in 
their deposits for investment. Well ! after all those 
who are studying for the profession would not be 
far out in thinking so. For is not the money they 
are paying, in a way, laid out to interest whereby, 
later on, when they have left the School, they may 
reap the reward of what they have spent both in 
time and money by becoming successful members 
of the musical profession? And even those 
students who enter the School with no other 
object than studying as amateurs, may certainly 
regard the fees they are handing over as likely to 
lead to good results ; since, of all accomplishments, 
music is the one most available in society. Besides 
which, the amateur who has had the privilege of 
receiving a sound musical education may do much 
towards disseminating a love for our art. 

At the Guildhall School these non-professional 
students are very numerous. Those who attend 
the various musical classes during the earlier hours 
of the day are almost exclusively ladies. It is 
in the evening, when the office-hours are over, 
that one sees in the class-rooms gentlemen who 
have been engaged during the day in business 



THE NEW BUILDING 207 

showing their enthusiasm for musical art in a very 
practical manner. 

One would think that at the end of a long day's 
work little energy would be left for so all-absorb- 
ing a subject as music. Where, however, there is 
true love and enthusiasm for art, all obstacles seem 
to yield to it, just as we read of some of the great 
composers who in their childhood had been for- 
bidden to devote any time to music, practising in 
secret, nay even in the middle of the night, as did 
the boy Handel. 

A noticeable feature throughout the new build- 
ing which has been admirably carried out is the 
system of double doors to the classrooms, each 
fitted with plate-glass windows. These doors are 
practically sound-proof; for when one enters the 
School no strains of music are to be heard, al- 
though there may be fifty or more students play- 
ing or singing at the same time. Even when 
passing close by a room where perhaps a lady 
student is singing, one sees her through the glass 
windows of the double doors, her mouth wide 
opened, yet not a sound gratifies one's curiosity. 
In another room a violinist is using his bow 
energetically upon his instrument, but it might be 
covered with grease instead of resin, for not a note 
is audible. 

The secret of this sound isolation is no doubt 



208 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES <&> IMPRESSIONS 

due to the air enclosed between the two doors, 
which acts as a non-conductor to the vibrations. 

The opening ceremony of the new building by 
the Lord Mayor proved to be a great success. 
All who were present on this auspicious occasion 
concurred in their estimate of the building as 
being splendidly adapted in every way for a music- 
school ; and both professors and students felt how 
much they owed to the generosity of the Corpora- 
tion, which spared no expense in erecting a 
structure that should in every way add to their 
comfort and convenience for all future years. 
Certainly, if the scheme inaugurated by the Music 
Deputation had not been thus liberally carried out 
by the Corporation, it would have required a very 
omnipotent magician to have called into existence 
so substantial a building. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE GUILDHALL SCHOOL "ARS LONGA, 
VITA BREVIS" 

TN the early history of a great undertaking there 
-- is often much interest to be found in the 
records of the various difficulties that have had to be 
overcome before the aims of its promoters could 
efficiently be carried out. But when success has 
become an accomplished fact, strange to say, much 
of this interest disappears. So it was with the 
Guildhall School of Music. When it had en- 
tered upon its work in the new building, and for 
about four years after, dating from the opening 
ceremony, no event of importance took place to 
disturb the routine of the School. 

Those few years, however, are intimately associ- 
ated with the memory of some of my fellow- 
professors who did good work in their time, but 
who are now at rest. Among these I recall Ridley 
Prentice, an excellent pianist and a thorough 
musician. Then I well remember Signor Li Calsi, 
pianist and composer, who, when a young man, 
p 209 



210 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

came to England in company with Thalberg. 
Another notable professor was Thomas Wingham, 
a most earnest composer, who wrote a charming 
serenade for orchestra, which was produced at 
the Philharmonic in 1885. Wingham was for 
several years the conductor of the music at the 
Brompton Oratory. Whilst there, he revived an 
ancient musical custom called Oratorio. This was 
really a kind of concert given in the church, 
followed by prayers and a sermon, and is said 
to have been the origin of sacred works of that 
name. I had an opportunity' of being present 
at one of these early forms of oratorio, at which 
Wingham had asked me to assist and play in my 
Trio in C Minor. This performance took place 
in the chapel known as the Little Oratory. A 
grand piano had been brought into the choir, 
although there was barely room for it. In con- 
junction with a violinist and a 'cellist we went 
through the whole of the trio. It seemed strange 
for us to be playing a scherzo with tripping 
rhythms in a sacred edifice. At the conclusion 
of the concert and service we migrated into the 
refectory of the Oratory and dined with the 
Oratorians. Before going in, Wingham told me 
that no conversation was allowed during dinner. 
But from a kind of rostrum at one side of the 
refectory, one of the brothers read aloud disserta- 



"ARS LONG A, VITA BREVIS" 211 

tions upon points of discussion connected with 
religion, affording food for reflection. Altogether 
I was much impressed with this glimpse into the 
mode of life of the Oratorians. 

During the last year of Weist Hill's principal- 
ship of the School he suffered much from ill-health; 
although, notwithstanding, he worked perhaps 
harder than ever. After his death, which occurred 
in 1891, the Corporation elected Joseph Barnby 
as Principal. I had known Barnby for many years, 
so that his appointment to this important post 
was most welcome to me. He had been a fellow- 
student of mine at the Royal Academy of Music, 
and at the Novello Concerts, of which I have al- 
ready spoken, we had renewed the acquaintance 
formed when we were students. 

I recollect a very agreeable evening that I spent 
in his house at Eton on the occasion of a perfor- 
mance of my "Ancient Mariner" by the Eton 
boys. I dined with him before the performance, 
and after dinner he asked me to play something to 
him, and seemed quite glad to find, as he said, that 
" my fingers had not lost any of their dexterity." 

I played to him my three Impromptus which are 
dedicated to Ferdinand Hiller. 

As a proof of his wonderful quickness of ear in 
detecting anything wrong, when I had finished 
the second Impromptu he said, " I think I heard 



MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

some hidden octaves somewhere." So I played it 
through again, when he stopped me, and I had to 
admit that he was right. Consequently, in the 
next edition of these pieces I thought it worth 
while to make a slight alteration in the position of 
one of the chords, which effectually did away with 
this blemish. 

At the performance of my "Ancient Mariner" 
by the boys, as the orchestra was not complete, I 
filled in some missing wind instruments on the 
harmonium, and I understood from some of those 
present that the tout ensemble Was most satisfac- 
tory. I was delighted with the zeal, and I may 
say enthusiasm, that the boys evinced in their sing- 
ing of the cantata. 

After the concert I returned with Barnby to his 
house, and I recollect having a very interesting 
conversation with him, while we were seated in 
the chimney corner of the kitchen. This kitchen 
possessed an old-fashioned fireplace with seats close 
to the fire, such as one finds in old farm-houses, and 
for that reason he often adjourned there in the 
evening to smoke his cigar. 

Barnby had that racy style of conversation that 
enlisted one's sympathy in all he said. His ideas 
and pronouncements were clearly expressed, and 
there was much information to be gained from him 
in matters concerning musical art. 



"ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS" 213 

It was too late for me to return to London after 
the concert, as I had originally intended, and he 
asked me to stay the night, but having no room to 
spare, he had arranged that I should sleep at the 
house of one of his friends. Not expecting to remain 
overnight, on the following morning I found myself 
minus the necessary razor for removing the growth 
of beard which, like the mushroom, in one night 
springs up amazingly. I descended to the break- 
fast-room feeling that I appeared careless indeed as 
to my personal appearance. 

Before calling to bid Mrs. Barnby farewell, I 
took the opportunity to find a skilful expert of 
the same calling as that of the Barber of Seville ; 
but I fear I disappointed him in a natural desire to 
display his skill, for I asked him to lend me a razor 
wherewith to perform the operation myself, whilst 
he looked on, doubtless with professional contempt 
at my homely methods. 

This reminds me of an incident that occurred to 
George Watson, the first Registrar of the Royal 
College of Music. 

He told me that he went one day to a barber to 
be shaved, when that individual, after regarding him 
with a curious expression, exclaimed, " I feel some- 
how as if I should like to draw the razor across 
your throat ! " At this Watson made one dash for 
the door, and reached the street safely, but without 



214 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

his hat, which in his precipitate retreat he aban- 
doned. 

After my visit to Eton, I only saw Barnby occa- 
sionally in the artists' room of the Albert Hall, 
between the parts of the concert of the great 
Choral Society he conducted, now known as the 
Royal Choral Society. It was not, indeed, until after 
his appointment as Principal at the Guildhall School 
of Music, that I had an opportunity of renewing my 
acquaintance with him. He had then become Sir 
Joseph, for he received the honour of knighthood 
a few months after his election as Principal. 

This election, which took place in 1892, was 
the first contest for the important post of Principal 
of the School that had ever taken place, as Mr. 
Weist Hill was appointed without going through 
the ceremony of an election. 

A considerable number of candidates offered 
themselves on the occasion, among whom were 
many most distinguished musicians ; but the con- 
test lay virtually between Joseph Barnby and 
William Cusins. 

It was a passage of arms between two conduc- 
tors, both well equipped as to prestige. For was 
not one the conductor of London's representative 
Choral Society, and the other the chef (Torchcstre 
of the Philharmonic Society and Master of Music 
to the Queen ? 



"ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS" 215 

At the meeting of the Corporation, before whom 
these musicians appeared, it soon became apparent 
that the scale was turning in favour of the great 
choral conductor. Mr. W. Cusins then wisely 
obviated the necessity for putting the matter to 
vote by resigning his candidature, and leaving the 
Corporation an easy task in their choice of the 
Principal. 

Sir Joseph Barnby was not long in entering upon 
his varied duties as head of the Guildhall School. 
He threw himself heart and soul into his work, 
and of that there was no lack. Examining 
students ; conducting orchestral and choral prac- 
tices, as well as public performances at the 
concerts or operas given by the School. These, 
indeed, are but a few of the duties that fall to the 
lot of the Principal. For not only has he to hear 
the complaints of ambitious pupils who think they 
are not pushed sufficiently forward, but what is 
still more trying, he has to undergo interviews with 
their nearest relatives ! 

All this worry and work seemed to be borne by 
Sir Joseph with perfect equanimity, for whenever I 
saw him after luncheon, in the smoking-room of 
the Salisbury Hotel, I generally found him enjoy- 
ing a cigar and showing no sign of fatigue or ennui. 
Nevertheless, as time went on, I think the work 
began to tell upon him. He seemed to take things 



216 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

too greatly to heart. His anxiety for the prosperity 
of the School caused him to be ever devising 
schemes for its further advancement; added to 
which were his duties as conductor of the Royal 
Choral Society, and the composing and editing of 
sacred works. The strain was evidently too heavy, 
for about two years after he had been made 
Principal we heard that he was seriously ill. 

I recollect calling at St. George's Square to 
inquire how he was, and seeing his daughter 
Muriel, who had been receiving an endless number 
of callers, each of whom she saw" individually and 
reassured, as well as she could, for her father was 
still in danger. Happily he recovered from this 
attack, and after a few weeks seemed quite to have 
returned to his usual health. Certainly he showed 
no signs of loss of energy, since he had scarcely 
resumed his duties at the School when he con- 
vened a meeting of the professors to obtain their 
opinion in regard to some proposition he had to 
put before them. It was evident that he did not 
intend to spare himself, notwithstanding his recent 
illness. He undertook as many practices, both 
choral and instrumental ; and the School concerts 
as well as the annual operatic performance were 
conducted by him as hitherto. 

I saw him at the Salisbury Hotel perhaps more 
frequently after his illness than 1 had done before. 



"ARS LONGA, VITA BREYIS" 217 

I found no change in him ; in fact he looked quite 
hale and hearty. In figure he was inclined to be 
somewhat portly, though not too much so. His 
fine open expression of face betokened much char- 
acter and gave him a distinguished appearance. 
Some such estimate of his personality was upper- 
most in my mind as I talked to him one rooming 
at the Salisbury Hotel. I happened to allude to 
the enormous amount of work he had to accom- 
plish at the Guildhall School, when he said, very 
impressively : " I often think, Barnett, that I am 
doing more work than I ought to do, what with 
my duties at the School and elsewhere ; and the 
danger in this is, that one does not always feel the 
bad effects of it until some time afterwards, and 
then it is perhaps too late to repair the evil caused 
by overwork." 

This was the last occasion on which I saw him, 
and, so far as I can recollect, the last words I heard 
him speak. Alas ! how prophetic they were. He 
little thought at the time that the "afterwards " was 
only too near at hand ! It was but a few days 
later that I was at work at the Guildhall School, 
when I learnt that again he had been taken 
seriously ill. An hour or two after a telegram was 
received by the secretary announcing his sudden 
death. 

At the time, the professors myself among them 



218 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

were engaged at their teaching duties. The sad 
news was not long in circulating throughout the 
School. Then the sounds of music that had filled 
the classrooms were hushed as by mutual consent ; 
the stillness and silence of death seemed to be 
upon us all. We spoke to one another in whispers, 
as though we were in the chamber of death. 

With the other professors I attended the funeral 
service held at St. Paul's, and, with the chief 
mourners, we formed a procession up the grand 
aisle. When we arrived under the dome we sat 
down and listened to the impressive choral service 
that followed. 

How solemn in effect were the harmonies of the 
choir that echoed through the great cathedral. 
They recalled to me the feelings I experienced 
when I heard the choristers in Westminster 
Abbey singing that beautiful anthem, " God is a 
Spirit," at the obsequies of Sir Sterndale Bennett 
on 6 February, 1875. 



Work, with its usual busy routine, was soon 
resumed at the Guildhall School. For a few 
months it was carried on by the secretary, then 
Mr. Hilton Carter. Mr. Charles P. Smith, our 
former loved and esteemed secretary, who had 
done so much to further the interests of the 



"ARS LONGA, VTTA BREVIS" 219 

School, having been claimed by death during Sir 
Joseph Barnby's short principalship. 

The election of the third Principal of the School 
was conducted on the same lines as the previous 
election, and was very closely contested, the Cor- 
poration in the end selecting Mr. (now Dr.) 
W. H. Cummings, who was at that time one of 
the most popular professors of the School. In 
selecting from the teaching staff, they showed their 
wisdom, for Mr. Cummings was more likely to be 
familiar with the working and requirements of the 
School than an outsider could possibly have been. 
As Treasurer of the Royal Society of Musicians, 
and of the Philharmonic Society, his business 
capacities had been thoroughly tested, whilst as a 
musician of varied attainments and vast experience 
he had long before made his mark. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

WELSH HOLIDAYS SNOWDON 

TN speaking of the daily routine of the Guild- 
-*- hall School, with its ever-recurring programme 
of work, many perhaps will think that the pro- 
fessors must have a hard time indeed, especially 
as some among their number, like myself, are 
engaged in other institutions. 

During the term, the work that the professor 
has to accomplish is, no doubt, very arduous ; but 
he enjoys one great advantage which is not shared 
by those engaged in business pursuits. A fort- 
night's holiday is about as much as the City man 
can afford to take from his work ; whereas the 
musical professor has a very liberal margin allowed 
to him for his summer excursions. The allowance, 
in fact, is so liberal, that he could easily go to 
South Africa and back during the time. 

Many of my vacations have been spent in 
different parts of Wales and its neighbourhood, 
and about some of these 1 propose to give a 
description and record my impressions. 

220 



WELSH HOLIDAYS SNOWDON 221 

The first holiday I spent in Wales was a good 
many years ago, somewhere between my return 
from Germany and the production of my "Ancient 
Mariner." 

It so happened that a young friend of mine, 
Mr. W., whose society I always enjoyed, had 
arranged to go with his sister for a short tour in 
North Wales, and he asked me whether I would 
accompany them. 

Never having been in the principality before, his 
proposition was very welcome to me ; I was obliged, 
however, to limit the time I could devote to the 
trip to a week, owing to the date fixed for my 
eldest sister's wedding, at which I had to be 
present. 

My stay in Wales being so short, I resolved not 
to encumber myself with any luggage, but just to 
take a small handbag containing what I thought 
necessary. It will be seen later on that this light 
mode of equipment, although it gave me greater 
freedom, was not unattended with certain risks. 

I met my friend and his sister at an hotel 
in Llangollen, and as I arrived there after dark 
I had to wait until the following morning to 
satisfy my yearning for seeing the beautiful scenery 
of which 1 had heard so much. 

I rose early, and from my window, whilst dress- 
ing, I caught a glimpse of the turbulent river 



222 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

which, swollen by heavy rains, poured its foaming 
waters under the arches of a picturesque bridge, 
losing itself among the rocks and boulders. 

Fortunately for us, the waterfalls and cascades 
were then in fine form, as the weather had been 
for some weeks previously the reverse of dry. 
We had, nevertheless, a fine day to start with, 
and in the morning we ascended the highest hill 
near Llangollen, from the summit of which we 
obtained a splendid view of the surrounding 
country, and after we had returned to the hotel 
and had partaken of some lunch, we were in time 
for the Llanberis coach, which was to convey us 
to Capel Cwrig.. It was in this primitive hamlet 
that we intended to pass the week, making such 
excursions as the weather might permit, one of 
which was to ascend Snowdon itself. 

We put up at a little inn which was close to 
many interesting bits of typical Welsh scenery. 
One or two of these I added to my sketch-book, 1 
and I commenced the view of Moel Siabod, which 
was opposite our inn ; but I found it very compli- 
cated. I am ashamed to say that this sketch still 
remains unfinished. 

Of course we went to Bettws-y-Coed and saw 
the Swallow Falls and the Miner's Bridge ; but 

1 In my boyhood I had studied water-colour and pencil sketching 
with William Varley, the artist whom I alluded to in my introductory 
pages. 



WELSH HOLIDAYS SNOWDON 223 

these are so well known that description is un- 
necessary. We also made an excursion to the 
fairy-like Lake Ogwen, and explored the wild and 
rocky region which is adjacent to it. It proved to 
be very rough work climbing amidst these rugged 
mountains ; but we went as far as the " Devil's 
Kitchen." With this I was disappointed, for it did 
not look nearly diabolical enough. 1 was told that 
in order to convey this sinister impression it should 
be seen in the gloom of a coming thunderstorm, 
the absence of which, notwithstanding, I did not 
deplore, as it happened to be one of the finest 
days we had during the week. 

The ascent of Snowdon we put off until the 
last day of our visit, which happened to be a 
Sunday. All through the week we had been 
looking forward to this excursion, and, as the day 
opened with a fine morning, we determined upon 
making the ascent. We had the aid of a guide, 
and a pony, which was intended for Miss W. 

We started in good spirits, and commenced the 
ascent in brilliant sunshine. W. and myself found 
it hard work, for the ascent from Capel Cwrig is 
very difficult, but as it affords some of the grand- 
est views known in Welsh scenery it is well worth 
the toil it costs. 

We had reached a point commanding a fine 
view of the scenic panorama about which the 



224 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

guide already had given us a glowing description. 
We were exulting over the beautiful scene that 
the grand old mountain had set before us, 
when the fair view began gradually to fade away 
until it was entirely hidden by mist. This we 
thought would soon disappear, as it might be only 
a drifting cloud. Unfortunately, the mist not only 
refused to clear away, but gradually developed 
into a drizzle. Still we did not lose hope that the 
weather would mend ; but to our disappointment 
the drizzle increased to rain. We could now see 
naught except objects immediately before us, so 
that our only occupation was to follow the guide, 
who did his best to reassure us regarding the 
prospect of the weather clearing. 

At last we arrived at the little cabin on the 
summit of Snowdon that bore the inappropriate 
name of an hotel. It was a wretched little place, 
but we were thankful for the protection it afforded 
us, for it was then raining in torrents. 

Whilst I was sitting down to rest a gentleman 
turned to me and said, " Hallo 1 Mr. Barnett, who 
would have thought of seeing you here ? Allow 
me to introduce myself, as I know your father well. 
I am Henry Lincoln, and am musical critic of the 
* Daily News.' " We then entered into conversation, 
and were both extremely amused at the idea of our 
meeting for the first time at the top of Snowdon. 



WELSH HOLIDAYS SNOWDON 225 

After waiting and waiting, in the hope that the 
storm would give some signs of ceasing, W. and I 
decided upon our little party descending the 
mountain by the Llanberis side. This indeed had 
been part of our programme, as we intended to 
have explored the lake and pass of Llanberis. 

The descent would have been easy work but for 
the rain ; the wind, too, was so high that my 
umbrella was blown to shreds, and, becoming 
utterly useless, I threw it away. 

When we arrived at Llanberis, the guide 
took us to the house of a friend of his, who 
promised to provide us with a dog-cart to 
take us back to Capel Cwrig, fourteen miles dis- 
tant. We dried ourselves as well as we could at 
the kitchen fire whilst waiting for our conveyance. 

Before starting, the guide and his friend did all 
they could to protect us from the weather, by the 
aid of horsecloths and other wraps. These proved 
to be of little use against the deluge of rain which 
soaked through everything ; so that when we 
reached our inn we were as wet as though we had 
been fished out of a river. 

Not having a change of attire with me, I at 
once went to bed, giving instructions for my 
clothes and boots to be dried at the fire during 
the night. 

I rose early the next morning in order to 

Q 



226 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

catch the stage-coach going to Llanrwst, at that 
time the nearest railway-station. This was the only 
coach that ran during the day, and if I had missed 
it I should have been too late for my sister's wed- 
ding, which was to take place on the following 
morning. 

I had not allowed myself much time, so my 
friend W. promised to stand at the door ready to 
stop the coach as it came down the hill. 

Meanwhile, I was in a most unenviable position, 
for I was endeavouring vainly to get my feet into 
my boots the only pair I had with me. 

These boots were of a pattern but little worn 
now. They were Wellington top-boots, reaching 
half-way up the leg. They were saturated when I 
left them to be dried, and the servant, thought- 
lessly, had placed them too near the fire, which had 
shrunken the leather to such an extent that, do 
what I would, it was impossible to force a way 
into them. 

Whilst exhausting myself in vain efforts, I heard 
the distant rumbling of the approaching coach. 
In desperation I took my penknife and cut away 
the upper part of the boots, converting them into 
shoes. Even in that condition they were far too 
small to get on. The coach was now at the door. 
I called to my friend, telling him of my predica- 
ment, for I could hardly travel shoeless to London. 



WELSH HOLIDAYS SNOWDON 227 

He thereupon lent me a pair of buckle-shoes he 
had with him ; and although they were rather small 
for me, I was never more grateful in my life than 
I was for the loan of those buckle-shoes, as they 
saved the situation. I got my feet into them as 
well as I could, made one rush from the door of 
the inn to the coach, just as the driver, in his 
impatience, was on the point of starting. I had 
scarcely time to say good-bye to my friends ; in 
fact, we were all laughing so heartily at my 
undignified exit that words were drowned in 
laughter. 



CHAPTER XXV 

WELSH HOLIDAYS A FLOOD 

TjlOR several years after my visit to Capel Cwrig 
-* I always spent my summer holidays in Wales, 
and generally prolonged my stay to within a few 
days of the commencement of my engagements in 
London. But once every three years, notwith- 
standing the attractions of fine scenery, I did not 
hesitate to shorten my holiday, in order to be pre- 
sent at the Birmingham Festival, which was then 
held about the end of August. 

During one of my Welsh trips, previous to the 
Festival of 1879, I was staying with my wife 1 
at Penmaenmawr ; our plan being to remain there 
three weeks, and then go on to Birmingham in time 
for the Festival. 

The first few days of our visit to this picturesque 
place were very enjoyable, as we had some fine 
weather, and were thus able to explore the Sychnant 
Pass which, with its winding terrace-road, affords so 
many enchanting views. 

1 This was my first wife, whose maiden name was Alice Dora Booth, 
and whom I married in 1875. She was the daughter of Lorenzo John 
Booth, a clever artist. She died in the year 1882. 

228 



WELSH HOLIDAYS A FLOOD 229 

At the foot of the mountain which overshadows 
this pass lies a deep valley, so deep that one is 
surprised to find no water in it. Owing to this 
peculiarity it is called the " Dry Valley." 

It could not have been long after our excursion 
to this region that the terrible floods set in, which 
made the summer of 1879 a memorable one for 
Wales. The so-called "Dry Valley" must then 
have belied its name. 

We were at this time still at Penmaenmawr. It 
was fortunate for us that we had chosen so elevated 
a spot for pitching our holiday tent, for if we had 
selected one of the vales instead of a mountain, 
we should not have enjoyed our experience. As it 
was, notwithstanding its high position, many houses 
in Penmaenmawr were flooded. Where we were 
lodged we escaped this inconvenience ; but in the 
house opposite, the hall, as far as the staircase, 
appeared to be a running stream of water. 

During the three or four days of incessant rain 
we spent most of our time in watching the swirling 
flood, as it poured down the road in its heedless 
course like a mountain torrent. 

This same flood, we were told, had converted in- 
significant streams into mighty rivers, whose waters 
moved with an unnatural and deadly velocity, carry- 
ing all before them with relentless force. It was 
one of those small streams which, in a dry season, 



230 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

one could step across, that, swelled by the flood 
into an irresistible torrent, washed away the entire 
viaduct of Llandulus. 1 

Fortunately no train was passing over it at the 
time, otherwise a disaster would have occurred 
rivalling in magnitude some of those appalling 
railway accidents in America. 

I am here reminded of a charming episode that 
occurred several years ago in the United States, 
when a train was saved from destruction by a little 
girl only eight years of age. The incident took 
place not far from a station, at a part of the 
country where a river is spanned by a railway- 
bridge. The child (the daughter of the station- 
master) happened at the time to be on the bank of 
the river close to the bridge, and was watching the 
turbulent waters eddying under its arches, when to 
her terror, without any warning, the structure gave 
way before her eyes. At the same moment she 
heard the whistle, and, turning, saw in the distance 
a train approaching and nearing its doom. With- 
out an instant's hesitation she snatched off her little 
red skirt and, running on to the line, waved it to 
and fro as a signal of danger. The engine-driver, 
fortunately, understood it as such, and was able to 
pull up in time to save his train from being precipi- 
tated into the river. 

1 This viaduct consisted of about sixteen arches, and the catas- 
trophe took place on 17 August, 1879. 



WELSH HOLIDAYS A FLOOD 231 

I have no doubt there were several narrow 
escapes in Wales during the great flood of 1879. 
Besides the viaduct of Llandulus numerous bridges 
were destroyed, among these being the bridge of 
Aber, a massive stone construction. This was very 
unfortunate for Penmaenmawr, as railway commu- 
nication had already been cut off on one side by the 
Llandulus disaster. Now that the bridge of Aber 
had likewise succumbed, we were absolutely severed 
from all communication with the outer world. In 
consequence, we received neither letters nor news- 
papers. Our supplies in regard to milk and other 
necessaries of life ran short, so that, in a mild way, 
we tasted some of the experiences of a beleaguered 
town. 

Luckily for us, the rain ceased in time for our 
journey to Birmingham. 

Owing to the destruction of the viaduct between 
Colwyn and Abergele, when we arrived at Colwyn 
we had to leave the train and find some convey- 
ance to take us to Abergele, in order to resume our 
journey. As to this there was no difficulty, for 
the railway company had made ample arrange- 
ments for carrying their passengers over the break 
in the line, a distance of about four miles. 

I do not think I ever saw, before or since, such 
a motley collection of vehicles. It seemed as if 
all the old and disused omnibuses had been sought 



232 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

out, after their existence had been wellnigh for- 
gotten. Then there were dog-carts, tradesmen's 
carts, victorias, cabs, and four-in-hand brakes drawn 
by two horses, all looking equally shabby and out 
of date. 

In spite of their unattractive appearance the rush 
for them was great. It was quite a scramble of 
every one for himself, for we were all afraid of being 
left behind and so losing the train. We succeeded in 
getting a dog-cart. Whilst on our way a boy ran 
after it, and told us some of the experiences he had 
had at Abergele, where he was staying. He said 
that, in consequence of the bakers' ovens being 
flooded, the visitors had been without bread for 
many days, and had been obliged to put up with a 
substitute in the form of thin cakes made of flour 
and water, fried in pans. These I expect very 
much resembled a specimen of bread a friend of 
mine once brought with him as a curiosity from 
Norway, and which looked more like the bottom 
of a bandbox than anything edible. 

During our journey to Birmingham we wondered 
what had become of our boxes. The last we had 
seen of them was at Colwyn Station, where we 
had left them amid a huge pile of trunks, port- 
manteaux, and luggage of every description, strewn 
about in the wildest confusion. On reaching our 
destination, therefore, we were not unprepared to 



WELSH HOLIDAYS A FLOOD 233 

hear that our luggage could not arrive until the 
following day. How our boxes ever found their 
way to Birmingham was a mystery ! But, fortu- 
nately, they succeeded in doing so, for when we 
called at the station the next morning we espied 
them awaiting, and were thus able to go to the 
first performance of the Festival in more suitable 
attire than a travelling get-up. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

WELSH HOLIDAYS MUSIC O'ER THE 

LAKE TRESPASSERS 
AN AWKWARD DESCENT 

A MONG the places in Wales that possess the 
-^ greatest attraction for me, none surpasses in 
beauty that of Barmouth and ' the surrounding 
neighbourhood. 

My earliest visit to Barmouth was just prior to 
the Hereford Festival at which my "Raising of 
Lazarus " was performed. 

On the occasion of another visit to this town we 
found my friend W. and his sister staying there. 
W. was very fond of boating, and as in calm 
weather the estuary of the Maudach is like a 
smooth lake, it afforded him splendid opportuni- 
ties for enjoying this pastime. 

Hearing one day that he and his sister were 
going to row on the Maudach, I thought I would 
give them an agreeable surprise. My father and 
three of my sisters were with me at the time, and 
we directed our steps from Barmouth along 
a bridle-path parallel to and overlooking the 

234 



MUSIC O'ER THE LAKE 235 

Dolgelly road which skirts the estuary. The 
path here is fringed with trees, and between them 
every now and then we obtained beautiful views of 
the placid lake-like scene beneath, bounded by the 
many-tinted mountains. 

Presently, in the distance, we saw the boat ap- 
proaching that contained our friends ; so we hid 
ourselves behind some of the trees and bushes, 
and then we arranged to sing as much of the 
opening chorus from my "Ancient Mariner" as 
we could recollect. Two of my sisters were to 
take the soprano part, the other the alto, my 
father the tenor, whilst I was to sing bass. 

When the boat was sufficiently near, I gave the 
signal to commence, and by the aid of our memory 
we sang through the whole of the chorus. 

When, later in the day, we met my friends, they 
told us that they had had a really charming ex- 
perience, for our little vocal performance, coming 
unexpectedly, produced a most fairy-like effect. 
Our voices passed over the smooth surface of the 
waters and blended in such a manner as to make 
the tone sound quite silvery and ethereal. 

To me, in these mountainous districts where civil- 
ization has not parcelled up the country into roads 
and fields, one of the most delightful sensations is 
to find myself in a wild region midst wood and 



236 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

dale, where, as far as the eye can see, no trace is 
visible of the ever-busy hand of man. 

Every day it becomes more difficult to find such 
romantic scenes. Many a local that afforded fine 
opportunities for indulging unmolested in the love 
of nature, on revisiting, I have found enclosed, 
and a respectable family mansion erected on it, 
surrounded by grounds. The annoying part of 
this arrangement is, that the site selected is always 
the one where the most beautiful view could be 
obtained, and henceforth it is shut out from the 
gaze of the visitor by an ugly Wall, too high even 
to look over ; while, to add insult to injury, one 
sees a board with the words painted upon it, 
" Trespassers will be prosecuted with the utmost 
rigour of the law." 

In many parts of North Wales it is most diffi- 
cult to know whether you are trespassing or not ; 
for the low walls constructed of loose stones, 
which take the place of our hedges hi England, 
and which mark the boundaries of farms, are not 
infrequently so arranged that, whether you are in- 
side or outside an enclosure, is quite a puzzle. 

I remember one day, when we were rambling in 
the wild mountainous regions near Little Borth, 
where these walls abound, we came across some 
very tempting blackberry bushes. My father, my 
sisters, and my children were with me, and most 



TRESPASSERS 237 

of us availed ourselves of the rustic dessert Nature 
had provided by picking the blackberries, which 
were particularly fine. We had no idea at the 
time that we were actually trespassing on one of 
the enclosures belonging to a small farmer ; and 
when we heard from the valley beneath a man's 
angry voice calling threats, we were not in the 
least aware that he was addressing us. I was in 
fact rather interested in noticing what wonderful 
power of voice he possessed in making himself 
heard from such a distance. As his vocal efforts 
became alarmingly fierce in tone, it dawned upon 
me that he was addressing us, and moreover, that 
he was evidently not entering into the fun in 
the same spirit that we were ; from which I con- 
cluded that perhaps we were trespassing upon his 
blackberry orchard. I tried to explain matters, 
but the distance prevented my words from reach- 
ing him, and he called out in a voice, the harsh, 
grating tones of which I have never heard equal- 
led, " I will go and fetch a policeman ! " This 
amazing threat tickled our fancy greatly, for the 
nearest place where this formidable officer of the 
law could be obtained was Portmadoc, at least 
three miles away. 

Little Borth, which I have mentioned, and 
which is a fishing village, is about a mile from 
Portmadoc, and is beautifully situated upon the 



238 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

estuary of the river. The fishermen, notwith- 
standing the small size of the cottages they in- 
habit, contrive to let rooms to tourists. These 
rooms were very well kept, but so tiny that, to 
have accommodated our party, I think we should 
have required that at least half a dozen of the cot- 
tages should have been placed at our disposal. 
Fortunately, we found ample accommodation in 
one of a block of three houses which had origin- 
ally been an hotel, and opposite one of the finest 
examples of Welsh scenery that I know. The bay- 
window in the drawing-room had three separate 
views, each distinctive and interesting. From the 
centre of the window a grand panorama of the 
lake-like estuary presented itself, bounded by 
the distant mountains, near one of which the 
ruins of Harlech Castle could be discerned. 

The dim outlines of the castle, as I saw them 
from afar, recalled to me an incident which oc- 
curred in connexion with it two or three years 
previously, and which is still fresh in my memory. 

I had been often curious to explore the ruins of 
this mediaeval stronghold, so that on one occasion, 
when we were staying at Barmouth, being com- 
paratively near, we arranged an excursion to them. 

This visit to Harlech Castle was full of interest 
for me, as not long before I had heard, for the 
first time, the celebrated "March of the Men of 



AN AWKWARD DESCENT 239 

Harlech," given with great effect at the inaugural 
Welsh Concert at St. James's Hall, under the 
baton of Mr. John Thomas. Whether this in- 
fluenced me or not, I cannot say, but I determined 
if possible to leave no part of the castle un- 
explored. My enthusiasm might, however, have 
cost me dear. 

We had been round the ramparts, when I 
noticed a little wooden bridge leading over a gap 
that led to an opening by which entrance could be 
obtained to the watch - tower, and which is the 
most elevated part of the structure. I proposed 
ascending it ; but my father and sisters thought it 
dangerous, and were too nervous to attempt it. 
I accordingly crossed over the wooden bridge, 
entered the tower, and began to ascend the stone 
steps that led to the top. These were very rough 
and irregular, and so broken away that the 
greater number of them were not more than 
two feet in width. 

When I had climbed nearly to the summit of 
the tower, it occurred to me that I should have to 
go down again, and that the process of descending 
might be a hazardous undertaking. Accordingly, 
I thought it wiser to proceed no farther. On 
turning, I saw at once the danger I was in. From 
where I stood there was a sheer descent of some 
two hundred feet to the basement of the castle. 



240 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6r IMPRESSIONS 

The steps by which I had to make my way down- 
wards were barely wide enough for even one 
person to walk upon ; they were likewise so 
broken away that it was very difficult to get any- 
thing like a sure footing upon them. One slip or 
false step would have precipitated me to the bottom. 
There was no rail or balustrade by which to steady 
myself. I paused, and debated in my mind as to 
which mode of descent would be attended with 
least danger. To crawl down backwards was 
rather ignominious. I consequently resolved to 
face the danger and walk down manfully, keeping 
as close to the wall as possible, and taking care 
that every step was well planted. It was as much 
as I could do to keep my steadiness of nerve and 
avoid any feeling of giddiness that might be 
caused by the great depth I saw beneath me, and 
which probably would have brought on an attack 
of vertigo. If for one moment I had given way 
to such a feeling all would have been over with me, 
and certainly I should not be writing my experience 
of it at the present moment. But I fortunately 
succeeded in controlling my nerves. When at 
last I emerged from the opening in the tower and 
stood again upon the wooden bridge, my father 
and my sisters, anxiously awaiting my reappear- 
ance, exclaimed : " Why, John, you look as if you 
had seen a ghost ! " 



CHAPTER XXVII 

CHEPSTOW A RUSTIC CEREMONY- 
ASTRA Y ! 
MEETING IN THE FARMHOUSE 

I HOPE my readers will not think that I am 
bent upon giving a detailed account of my 
visits to all the castles that I have been over ; but 
I must ask indulgence for devoting some space to 
one of my holiday excursions, on which occasion I 
stayed some weeks at Chepstow, and, of course, 
explored the ruins of the celebrated castle which 
is one of the principal attractions of the place. 

My sojourn in the charming neighbourhood of 
Chepstow has impressed itself upon my memory, 
not only on account of the picturesque character 
of its castle, but likewise owing to two or three 
incidents that occurred during the time. 

We stayed at a farm-house on Tat's Hill, which 
is close to Chepstow, on the opposite side of the 
River Wye. It was an old and primitive place, and 
evidently had been the largest of its kind in the 
locality. From the dining-room window a beau- 
tiful distant view was obtained of a spot in the 
R 241 



242 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

landscape where the waters of the Wye and 
Severn meet. It was, perhaps, rather spoilt in 
the foreground by the tubular bridge through 
which the railway runs, this iron structure being 
so peculiar in form that it looks as though the 
engineer had by mistake erected it upside down. 

Our water-supply at this farm was rather a novel 
feature. It was contained in an underground tank 
of huge proportions, into which was collected the 
rain-water from the roofs of the house and ad- 
joining buildings. We understood that the people 
of the village used to come to the farm for water, 
so that the huge tank harboured there formed a 
kind of reservoir for the neighbourhood. 

Contrary to what might have been expected, the 
water was beautifully clear and very pure and soft, 
and, I think, agreed with us all the better for 
being devoid of lime or other mineral properties. 
It was, likewise, as cold as spring water, even in 
the hottest weather. 

We found everything in the way of food won- 
derfully cheap at Chepstow, especially salmon, 
which we used to buy at one of the reaches 
belonging to a gentleman in the neighbourhood, 
and not unfrequently we saw the salmon caught 
that was afterwards to be served at our dinner. 

The arrangements at the farm for the boiling of 
fish were not altogether satisfactory ; for one day, 



CHEPSTOW 243 

after we had been profuse in our eulogiums upon 
the delicious flavour of a very fine specimen of 
the king of fish, and had congratulated ourselves 
upon our good fortune in being at one of the 
headquarters of the salmon industry, our nerves 
received a severe shock, inasmuch as our landlady 
inadvertently disclosed to us that the salmon had 
been boiled in the scullery copper. As this old- 
fashioned contrivance for washing clothes was still 
used for that purpose, it not a little disconcerted 
us. After this unpleasant discovery, we lost no 
time in supplying the good woman with a fish 
kettle at our own expense. 

One of the incidents that occurred during our 
visit to Chepstow was the ceremony of the open- 
ing of the castle grounds, or Castle Dell, as it is 
called, to the public by the Duke of Beaufort, on 
11 August, 1886. This afforded an opportunity 
to the townspeople for organizing a procession 
through Chepstow. On a small scale, it reminded 
me of the one I witnessed in Leipsic on the cen- 
tenary of Schiller's birth. The various industries 
were represented by the artisans belonging to 
them, working at their respective trades in wagons 
or caravans specially arranged for the occasion. 
These vehicles were tastefully decorated with 
flowers and emblems of the various trades repre- 
sented, and were drawn by horses wearing favours. 



244 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

It was a very pretty sight to watch this pastor a 
procession wending its way through the quaint 
street in Chepstow, and passing under the antique 
archway by which the old town is entered. The 
men belonging to the various orders, known as 
those of the Foresters and the Band of Hope, 
sported their gayest uniforms on the occasion. 
Then there were young girls, prettily dressed and 
wearing garlands of flowers. Altogether the pro- 
cession was rich in colour and variety. Presently 
one heard the distant music of a band approaching, 
and producing, as it came nearer 'and nearer, a very 
fine crescendo, which worked up to a splendid 
forte as it passed immediately opposite to us ; and 
then again, as it disappeared under the old arch- 
way, an excellent effect of diminuendo was ob- 
tained, that might have served as a useful lesson 
to many an orchestra as to the manner in which a 
diminuendo should be managed. 

When the procession had passed we went into 
the castle grounds that had just been declared free 
to the public. They form a permanent addition to 
the attractions of the town, being like a sylvan 
park in miniature. 

We had previously been over the castle itself, 
which is so well known as to render a minute 
description superfluous. 

On entering the ruins of Chepstow Castle one 



CHEPSTOW 245 

does not experience that depressing feeling which 
such time-worn and dilapidated buildings are apt 
to inspire. The ivy-clad walls and towers are quite 
ornate in appearance ; then there is a magnificent 
walnut tree, whose spreading branches cast their 
shadows on a well-kept lawn. All is peaceful and 
soothing to the eye, so that one can scarcely 
realize that in the remote past many a prisoner 
may have pined away in some dark or gloomy 
dungeon, or may have met his fate by being 
secretly put away. There is, however, one dun- 
geon that certainly conveys the impression that 
dark deeds may have been perpetrated in it, and 
that it may possibly have been an oubliette. It, 
moreover, on one side, presents an unprotected 
opening through which any prisoner, either by 
accident or force, could easily have been precipi- 
tated into the river. As we looked down this 
awful gap, which, when we saw it, was unpro- 
tected, we could see the swirling and rushing 
waters of the Wye hurrying on their headlong 
course, and we could easily appreciate how effec- 
tive a means it must have been for getting rid of 
a troublesome enemy or rival in love. For any 
one falling into the rapids of the river would be 
carried by the current into the great Severn, and 
lost to view for ever. 

Few rivers can boast of such romantic scenery 



246 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

as the Wye, in the vicinity of Chepstow. Rich 
foliage and broken outlines of rocky cliffs mingle 
together apparently in wild discord, and yet they 
form a harmonious whole that is absolutely per- 
fect. It is strange that this melee of rock and 
woodland, which some freak of nature has scat- 
tered haphazard, should, with the swift-flowing 
river, combine to form a picture which the eye 
loves to dwell upon, and which conjures up 
thoughts of romance. Yet so it is, and it is one 
of those mysteries, akin to music itself, which defies 
solution, and which would rack 'the brains of the 
most profound philosopher to build up a tangible 
theory of explanation. 

At Tat's Hill we had a fine opportunity of 
realizing the scenic effects I have described, as, 
quite close to where we were staying, there is a 
terrace- walk, hewn out of the cliffs that skirt the 
river, commanding one of the grandest views in 
the neighbourhood. The way to this fine point of 
observation was through the grounds of an adjoin- 
ing house, which belonged to an old lady who gave 
permission to visitors to explore the surroundings 
amidst which she dwelt. 

First we went through the pretty garden near 
the house, but by a little detour we soon came 
upon the terrace-walk to which I have just alluded. 
There we found ourselves perched up half-way 



CHEPSTOW 247 

between the top and the base of the cliffs, on a 
narrow and unprotected pathway overhanging the 
river. Although not nearly so dangerous as the 
broken steps in the watch-tower of Harlech Castle, 
it still demanded caution, but the reward for any 
possible danger was immeasurably greater. In 
the watch-tower there was nothing to be seen but 
gloomy walls and a cavernous depth, whereas from 
where we stood a glorious panorama unfolded 
itself. I should certainly have enjoyed the view 
still better had my children not been with me, for 
I was constantly enjoining them to exercise cau- 
tion, with such admonitions as '* Keep close to the 
rocks ! " " Walk only one at a time ! " and I felt 
greatly relieved when we had passed over this 
rocky ledge. I think, however, that when we 
explored the river from the opposite side a few 
days after we ran a greater risk, but of another 
kind. 

Access to this side of the river is obtained by 
passing through the grounds w-hich adjoin a house 
situated on the road to Tintern. This house is an 
ugly, square, white-painted building, and as it 
stands alone, without even a tree being near it, it 
affords an excellent landmark. 

It w r as a fine afternoon when we started on our 
excursion, and it was not long before we found 
ourselves on the banks of the Wye, if the rough, 



248 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

rocky pathway could be so called. From here we 
had an opportunity of seeing the river and its 
surroundings at closer quarters. All is as wild 
and solitary as it was hundreds of years ago. No 
one has been tempted to interfere or tamper with 
nature. Foxes and other wild animals roam about 
unmolested by the sportsman, for the ground is 
too rugged and broken for sport. The wily rey- 
nard is sly enough to know that here he is per- 
fectly safe, so we frequently c^me across him in 
our rambles. The rustling music of the trees, 
swayed to and fro by the breeze, with now and 
then the note of some woodland songster, is accom- 
panied by an ever-prolonged pedal note, as we 
musicians call it, emanating from the drone and 
hum of myriads of insects, attracted by the waters 
of the busy river flowing beneath. Their millions 
of tiny wings seem to accord in the sound vibra- 
tions they produce, conveying the effect of one 
note well defined. One might almost imagine that 
some mysterious instinct leads them to join in 
unison. 

My father and my sisters, who were with me, 
entered fully into the poetry of this scene of river 
and woodland, but I think my children thought 
more of the blackberries, which were very abun- 
dant, and which were as large as mulberries. 
Altogether, we were spending a most enjoyable 



CHEPSTOW 249 

alfresco afternoon, and were loath to turn back. 
When we did so, the shades of evening were gradu- 
ally approaching, for the shorter days of a well- 
advanced September were already overtaking us. 

On all excursions of this kind I have generally 
acted as guide, so that I took the precaution of 
making such observations of the different paths as 
would enable us to find our way safely back. But 
I must have made some mistake in returning, as 
the path that I chose, instead of leading us away 
from the river, brought us back to it at another 
point. 

The situation was now becoming serious, for 
soon the light of the setting sun would have failed 
us. If we could not find our way by daylight, it 
was exceedingly improbable that we should do so 
in the darkness of night ; added to this, my 
younger little daughter was growing so tired that 
alternately we had to carry her in order to pro- 
gress at all. If I had had a pocket compass with 
me it would have been of great assistance, but all 
I could do then was to make for one of the other 
paths, from which there were several to choose. I 
exercised the wisest discretion I could call forth, 
and led our little party on until at length we were 
free of the wood, and found ourselves on rising 
ground covered with thick, coarse grass, so high 
that it might have been part of an Indian jungle. 



250 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

Through this we had to wade as best we could, 
but, to our joy, on looking into the distance we 
saw the ugly white house which we had thought 
such an eyesore, but which was then more welcome 
to us than any of the beautiful scenes we had left 
behind. 

All cause for alarm was now at an end, and it 
was not long before we were safe in our farm-house 
at Tat's Hill, resting our wearied limbs and re- 
viving ourselves by the cup " which cheers but not 
inebriates." 

During our stay at Chepstow an opportunity 
was afforded me of seeing again my uncle John 
Barnett, who together with his wife came over 
from Leckhampton, near Cheltenham, where they 
lived. This visit was in response to an invitation 
that we gave them to dine with us and spend the 
evening at the old farm-house. 

I had not seen them for many years, so their 
coming was quite an event. My uncle at that 
time was well advanced in years, but looked, 
nevertheless, wonderfully young for his age. He 
was a most entertaining conversationalist, and it 
was a thousand pities that during the latter half 
of his life, living away from the world, almost in 
seclusion, few had the opportunity of enjoying his 
society and listening to the many well-told anec- 
dotes he had at his disposal. 



CHEPSTOW 251 

My uncle, as those versed in the history of 
English Opera can fully attest, was practically the 
founder of the romantic school of English Opera. 
Purcell, who may be looked upon as the Gluck of 
England, had, like the great Palatinate composer, 
immortalized himself by operatic works founded 
upon mythological subjects ; but at the time my 
uncle gave forth his " Mountain Sylph " to the 
world, English Opera as high art was really non- 
existent. The so-called opera of that period 
was actually nothing more than a kind of melo- 
drama. If any chorus were introduced, it was 
generally sung without any appropriate action. 
Thus, in the first rehearsal of the "Mountain 
Sylph," my uncle told me that when the chorus, 
representing an angry crowd, was uttering threats 
against the wizard, Hela, the chorus singers sang 
their parts without the slightest attempt at any 
gesture indicative of anger ; nor did the stage 
manager attempt to show them what they should 
do. Whereupon my uncle stepped upon the stage 
and personally illustrated how they should give 
life-like reality to the words they were singing. 
The effect was magical ; it was like galvanizing a 
corpse ! When the opera was produced, the 
audience for the first time saw a chorus acting as 
well as singing. It was quite a novel experience 
to them, and set off as the action was by spirited 



252 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

and effective music, it went a great way towards 
ensuring the success of the opera. 

Naturally, my uncle's success in his first opera 
caused him to write others ; so that at not very 
long intervals apart appeared, first, " Fair Rosa- 
mund," and then "Farinelli." At a state per- 
formance of the latter opera, Queen Victoria was 
present. And here I will take the opportunity of 
narrating an interesting episode which occurred not 
many years ago at one of the concerts at Osborne 
given before the Queen. Sir Walter Parratt had 
included in the programme of this concert my 
" Liebeslied " for orchestra, and he told me that 
after the performance Her Majesty expressed to 
him, in graceful words, the pleasure this piece had 
given her, and asked if the composer was still 
living, evidently thinking it had been written by 
my uncle. For she alluded to the occasion on 
which she had heard John Barnett's " Farinelli." 
Sir Walter, of course, explained that the music of 
the " Liebeslied " was composed by the nephew 
of that composer, whom he often met at the Royal 
College of Music. This little incident showed how 
wonderfully retentive Queen Victoria's memory 
must have been, as she not only recollected my 
uncle's name, but likewise that of his opera, not- 
withstanding the many years that had elapsed 
since she had been present at its performance. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

A CHAPTER OF ANECDOTES 

HHHE recollection of my uncle John brings to my 
* mind some of the anecdotes he was so fond of 
telling. He had quite a stock of them, and many 
were very amusing. I am sorry that I can only 
recall a few of them, my memory for anecdotes 
being nearly as bad as it is for riddles. I used to 
envy the wonderful facility Sir George Grove 
possessed in recollecting innumerable anecdotes 
and riddles. As for me, often, when I try to pro- 
pound a riddle, I find myself beginning at the 
wrong end, and putting the answer in place of the 
question. 

Notwithstanding my shortcomings as to mem- 
ory, I will endeavour to recall some of the anec- 
dotes I heard told me by my father and my uncle, 
and will include amongst them one or two inci- 
dents in which I myself took part. For as in my 
reminiscences I have not had the opportunity of 
describing any hairbreadth escapes or exciting 
scenes, a few anecdotes may not be unacceptable. 

253 



254 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

In any case, a chapter of anecdotes is better than 
a chapter of accidents. 

I will commence with a very quaint episode that 
occurred during my uncle's childhood. 

When he was about ten years old he was taken 
to a concert which took place in a theatre, in 
order that he might hear Braham, the renowned 
tenor. Braham had just sung " The Death of 
Nelson," when little John Barnett, who was in a 
box, to the great amusement of all assembled, 
called out at the top of his voice, " I think I can 
sing that song quite as well myself." " Let us 
hear the little fellow," said several of the audience ; 
whereupon, the boy stood upon' a seat, so that he 
could be seen by the audience, and sang the song 
in question most .charmingly, and with such effect 
that the people rose to their feet with enthusiasm 
and applauded the little fellow to the echo. The 
manager of the theatre sent round at once to 
inquire who he was, and, that very evening, offered 
him an engagement at the theatre. Thus it was 
that, by an unlooked-for incident, the boy was 
introduced to the musical world. 

At the time my uncle was writing his operas 
he had many admirers, but, on the other hand, 
others depreciated his compositions. Amongst the 
latter was a certain musical professor, who was 
always finding something amiss with what my 



A CHAPTER OF ANECDOTES 255 

uncle wrote. This professor was a great lover of 
Mozart's works, and was continually parading his 
devotion to that immortal composer. A rather 
neat practical joke was played upon him by a 
gentleman, an acquaintance of his. This gentle- 
man came in one day to the professor's rooms, 
and told him that he had brought a manuscript 
of Mozart with him, which he was desirous his 
friend should play over. Now this manuscript was 
nothing more nor less than a portion of one of my 
uncle's compositions, which a few days before he 
had lent to the professor's friend. The professor, 
believing the composition to be by Mozart, went 
into ecstasies of musical rapture, every now and 
then bursting forth into such ejaculations as 
" How charming ! " " See what fine writing ! " and 
so forth. At last, the facetious friend, thinking 
that he had kept up the joke long enough, brought 
the Mozart admirer down from the celestial regions 
in which he was revelling to the prosaic sphere we 
dwell in, by telling him the plain truth that the 
manuscript was written by my uncle. At this the 
professor's face fell, and all he said was, " Ha ! 
Hem ! Not at all bad for Barnett ! " 

Some men are very fond of boasting their 
acquaintanceship with men of note. One of my 
uncle's friends had this weakness. This gentleman 
happened to come in one afternoon, when my uncle 



256 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

was giving a reception. He had not been long in 
the room before he began telling every one that 
he had had such a treat, as he had just come from 
his friend, John Cramer, who had been playing to 
him most delightfully for over an hour. As John 
Cramer was then the doyen of pianists, every one 
was, of course, most interested. A few minutes 
after, who should enter but John Cramer himself, 
when, after staying a few minutes, he apologized to 
my uncle for having to leave so soon. When he 
had gone, the gentleman who had boasted of being 
so intimate with the great pianist went up to my 
uncle and said, " Can you tell me, John, who is 
that gentleman who has just left ? He seems to 
speak as if he knew a good deal about music." 
" Why," replied my uncle, " that is your old 
friend John Cramer, who was playing to you for 
over an hour before you came here." Tableau. 

A little incident that occurred during my boy- 
hood just comes to my memory. My father at 
that time frequently took me with him to the 
breaking-up parties given at the schools where he 
taught ; for I suppose I was then regarded as 
being a child wonder, and my playing was looked 
forward to with great interest. One of these break- 
ing-up entertainments to which we went took place 
at a school at Stamford Hill. After the concert 
was over, and an agreeable evening had been spent, 



A CHAPTER OF ANECDOTES 257 

my father and myself slept the night at the school 
house, as it was too far for us to return to Kentish 
Town, where we lived. We shared the same bed- 
room, and my father before retiring to rest put 
his purse carefully under his pillow, having pre- 
viously locked the door of the room. These pre- 
cautions were not altogether without cause, as 
the purse contained over sixty pounds in bank- 
notes. 

The next morning, when we had completed our 
toilet, and were about to descend to breakfast, my 
father felt under the pillow for his purse ; but what 
was his consternation to find the purse gone. Was it 
possible he had forgotten to put it there ? No, he 
recollected distinctly doing so. We tried the door ; 
that was as securely locked as it had been the 
night previous. Then we commenced a minute 
search. We removed the pillow-cases, shaking 
them, as though it were likely a purse would cling 
to them. We took the sheets and blankets and 
shook them also. We carefully examined the 
bolsters and even the bedding. We looked under 
the bed, in fact we looked under everything that 
was in the room ; but no purse was visible. We 
had been diligently searching for over an hour, 
and I was beginning to feel hungry. I suggested, 
therefore, our going down to breakfast and having 
another hunt afterwards. "No," said my father, 



258 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6* IMPRESSIONS 

"if I leave the room now, I shall never see the 
purse again." But what was to be done? We 
stood looking at one another vacantly. We felt 
nonplussed. Round about us were the sheets and 
blankets strewn on the floor, leaving the mattress 
exposed to view. Suddenly, without warning, 
my father darted forward towards the mattress. 
I thought he had been overcome with excitement 
and had fallen ; but it turned out that he had 
noticed, somewhere near the middle of the mattress, 
a very slight bulge. On pressing it he felt some- 
thing hard underneath. Then was the mystery 
concerning the disappearance of the purse effec- 
tually solved. We discovered that there was a 
very small rent or opening in the mattress, through 
which my father .must have, unknowingly, pushed 
his purse, instead of under the pillow, and the 
purse must have worked its way during the night 
towards the middle of the mattress. Had we 
abandoned the search as hopeless, perhaps twenty 
or more years after, an old mattress would have 
been sent to be reticked, and there would have 
been great joy upon one of the work-people 
having discovered a purse containing over sixty 
pounds in bank-notes. Thus would the adage have 
been fulfilled which tells us, " It is an ill wind 
that blows no one any good." 

An amusing story anent a well-known comedian 



A CHAPTER OF ANECDOTES 259 

who was very popular during the earlier part of 
the last century, I have often heard my father tell. 
This actor rejoiced in the curious name of Suett. 
It appears that Suett had mortally offended a local 
shopkeeper, as hi some play the actor had un- 
mistakably alluded to him in most uncompli- 
mentary terms through the medium of " gagging." 
This so offended the man of business that he 
determined to give Suett a lesson which the latter 
would not be likely to forget. He accordingly 
ascertained the whereabouts of the stage-door at 
which Suett was in the habit of entering, and the 
time at which the actor might be expected to 
arrive, and determined to lie in wait for him ; not, 
it is true, with the same murderous intentions as 
those of the lunatic who stabbed poor Terriss at 
the stage-door of Drury Lane Theatre. But our 
maligned tradesman was fully prepared to let 
Suett know what effect a horsewhip well handled 
was likely to produce. Whereupon, at the proper 
time, he hid himself behind a wall close to the 
stage-door, awaiting the arrival of the actor. The 
night was very dark, added to which it was raining 
in torrents. Presently Suett appeared upon the 
scene, looking as wet and miserable as a man with- 
out an umbrella would be in such a downpour, 
the water literally pouring off his cape. His 
enemy thought he recognized the object of his 



260 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6r> IMPRESSIONS 

vengeance ; but wishing to make quite sure that 
he had got the right man, called out, " Are you 
Suett ? " " No," replied the actor, " I'm dripping." 
This spontaneous and witty answer came so un- 
expectedly that, do what he would, the man with 
the grievance could not restrain his laughter, and 
he then and there forgot his grudge and shook 
hands with the actor. From thenceforth the two 
became the best of friends. En passant, I may 
say that recently, in the review of a book dealing 
with the history of the Haymarket Theatre, I 
saw the name of Suett mentioned as one of the 
leading actors in the earlier history of that 
theatre. 

My father once told me about a curious inci- 
dent that occurred at one of the orchestral trials of 
new compositions given by the Society of British 
Musicians ; a society that existed many years 
ago. One of its members had brought forward 
an overture of his composition, which proved to 
be a gross plagiarism on Rossini's well-known 
Overture to " Tancredi." So closely, indeed, was 
the introduction of this light work imitated, that 
when the orchestra arrived at the allegro of the 
new overture, as if by mutual consent, they one 
and all struck up the merry tune of the allegro of 
Rossini's Overture. 



A CHAPTER OF AN 7 ECDOTES 



261 




Of course, there were roars of laughter from 
the audience, during which the unfortunate com- 
poser beat a hasty retreat. 

Whilst my father and myself were at Warwick 
Street Church, where, as I have already stated, 
I was as a boy the organist, we made the ac- 
quaintance of a Mr. Winter, a member of the 
congregation, who often came to our house. He 
was one of those bluff, outspoken men, who not 
unfrequently emphasize their dicta with an oath 
of more or less high flavour. He was fond of 
music, but knew nothing about it or its composers. 
Thus, perhaps, after my father had asked me to 
play through to him a concerto that I had been 
studying, he would turn to my father and say, 

" That's d d fine music ; did your son compose 

it ? " " No," my father would answer, " that is 
one of Beethoven's." " Never heard of him," he 
would reply. 

The name of Whiter brings to my mind a neat 
little dialogue between Theodore Hook and his 
servant, which I once came across : 



262 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

Servant : " Please, Mr. Winter has called for the 
taxes." 

Theodore Hook : " Then give Mr. Winter what- 
ever he axes. Mr. Winter's a man who'll stand 
no kind of flummery ; his name may be Winter, 
his process is summary." 

I have already alluded to the kindness and 
attention that the local representatives of the 
Associated Board show to the examiners when 
opportunities present themselves. I recollect on 
one occasion, after we had finished examining, the 
local representative, who happened to be an 
American, telling us some very interesting anec- 
dotes. One of these I thought so novel that, 
although it is quite unconnected with music, I 
will endeavour to recall it. 

It appears, that a friend of this representative 
who resided in one of the southern states of North 
America was, a few years ago, disturbed in the 
middle of the night by a noise as of some one 
moving about in the room beneath. He assumed 
at once that a burglar was at work in his drawing- 
room, so dressing hastily, as well as arming him- 
self with a revolver, he determined to interrupt 
the thief in the spoliation of his household goods ; 
but when he entered the room he found that the 
burglar had already decamped with a considerable 
number of valuables. Knowing the difficulty of 



A CHAPTER OF ANECDOTES 263 

detection in cases where no clue is left, he resolved 
upon carrying out a unique plan in order to discover 
the author of the robbery. He went to work on 
exactly the opposite method to what most people 
would have done. Instead of raising a hue and 
cry after the burglar, or giving information to the 
police, he did everything in his power to keep the 
matter a secret. Before resuming his night's rest, 
he carefully rearranged the furniture and articles 
in the drawing-room, which the burglar had left 
in confusion, so that no one could have divined 
that anything unusual had happened. He more- 
over took care not to say a word to any one about 
the occurrence, not even to his wife ; for he 
reasoned that, by adopting this course, only two 
people could possibly be aware that his house had 
been feloniously entered one was himself, the 
other was the burglar. He bided his time. One 
morning, about a month after this event, a work- 
man whom he occasionally employed came into 
his office, and, being a talkative fellow, began 
detailing some of the local gossip, in the course of 
which he said : " I hear that a burglary was com- 
mitted in your house some weeks ago." " Yes ! " 
replied the gentleman, "and you're the man who 
did it." Whereupon the workman was promptly 
given into custody, and some of the stolen articles 
being found in his lodgings, proved that this novel 



264 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

mode of detecting a crime had been entirely suc- 
cessful. 

A few of my experiences with pianofortes may 
not be out of place in this chapter. 

When I was studying at Leipsic I purchased a 
small grand of Irmler's, at Plaidy's recommenda- 
tion, and before leaving Germany arranged to 
have it sent to me in London. It was on this 
piano that for several years after my return to 
England I was wont to practise. In the end it 
became so worn with work that I resolved to sell 
it and get a Broadwood grand. In order to obtain 
a fair price for my Irmler, I had it nicely done 
up ; so that I succeeded in disposing of it to a 
furniture dealer very advantageously. Shortly 
after this I was one day at an upholsterer's shop, 
when the manager came up to me and said : "If 
you should be wishing to purchase a piano, we 
have a very good second-hand grand to show 
you." After expatiating upon the beautiful 
qualities of the instrument he was offering, he 
led me to where it was placed ; but what was my 
surprise to recognize an old friend amid new sur- 
roundings. There was my Irmler, on which I so 
often enjoyed Bach and Beethoven, and upon 
which I had made my first acquaintance with 
Chopin and Schumann. I felt almost inclined to 
repurchase it. Its tone was still sympathetic, 



A CHAPTER OF ANECDOTES 265 

notwithstanding the trying work I had given it 
in assiduously practising scales, arpeggios, double 
thirds, and all kinds of technical studies that I 
used to invent for myself. How the poor instru- 
ment had survived such a trying ordeal seemed a 
miracle. I played something of Schumann on it 
by way of farewell ; and when I left the shop I 
experienced that feeling which comes to one but 
too often in one's life the feeling that another 
link with the past is broken; for I had indeed parted 
for ever with an old friend and companion. One 
is sorry at parting with a favourite dog ; but the 
dog cannot speak like the piano, nor sing like the 
violin. 

It has sometimes happened that when out of 
town for my summer holidays I have been fortu- 
nate in meeting with a fairly good pianoforte in 
the apartments I have chosen, and w r hich has given 
me an incentive to writing some new composition 
for the instrument. At Pwllheli, for example, 
I wrote my " Autumn Leaves," whilst at Conis- 
ton, in the Lake district, I commenced my "Home 
Scenes " ; at both these places there having been 
a pianoforte where I stayed. Indirectly, the com- 
posing of my " Home Scenes " was due to the 
bad weather we had for several days whilst we 
were at Coniston. I was with my wife at the 
time, having married for my second wife a daughter 



266 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

of the late Joseph Tussaud. We stayed first at 
a house where there was an upright piano of very 
antique origin. It was really unplayable, for the 
unisons were in a most disturbed condition, one 
note in many instances sounding like two. After 
we had been a week at this house we went to 
another close by, at which there was a beautiful 
cottage piano, nearly new and quite in tune. The 
presence of the piano, however, would hardly have 
tempted me to compose had the weather remained 
fine, for I should have felt little inclined to have 
given up any of the excursions arranged with my 
wife in the charming country surrounding Lake 
Coniston. But as the weather .for the first few 
days after we had settled in our new house was 
atrocious, rain falling in torrents without cessation, 
I amused myself at the piano by sketching out 
the commencement of two or three numbers of 
my " Home Scenes." 

As a rule, be it said, I do not compose whilst 
I am away on my holidays ; but frequently on my 
return from the country I find my ideas fresher for 
the rest and change, and therefore take the oppor- 
tunity of writing some piece before entering again 
upon my teaching labours. 

Each of my pizzicato pieces, " Elf-land " and 
" Fairyland," were in this way the sequel of summer 
holidays, and both were introduced at the Crystal 



A CHAPTER OF ANECDOTES 267 

Palace Concerts about six months after I had written 
them; their companion pieces, "The Ebbing Tide" 
and " The Flowing Tide," being also included in the 
respective programmes. I may here incidentally 
mention that the initial melody of " The Flowing 
Tide" occurred to me under circumstances the 
reverse of romantic. I had just entered an omnibus 
in Piccadilly, when, despite the turmoil, the melody 
came to me and made itself heard in my imagina- 
tion above the noise of the traffic, and I dotted it 
down in my notebook. Perhaps, however, my 
ideas may have been stimulated by having heard 
at my publishers, whom I had just left, that 
Mrs. J. L. Roeckel, of Bristol, had suggested to 
them my writing another pianoforte piece some- 
what in the character of " The Ebbing Tide." 

The inducement to compose caused by the 
presence of a good piano at seaside apartments 
is, perhaps, of rare occurrence ; but even if it is 
not of much worth, there is something companion- 
able about the instrument being in the room. 

I recollect, many years ago, I had a surprise in 
the way of a piano. This was at Littlehampton. 
I noticed in our drawing-room there was what 
appeared to be an old square pianoforte, rather 
like the one I used to practise on when a boy. 
It was shut up, several ornaments being upon it. 
These I took the liberty of removing, in order to 



268 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

raise the lid and ascertain whether the instrument 
was worth playing upon. 

I struck a full chord with considerable vigour ; 
but not a sound came. What could be the 
matter? I looked inside, and soon discovered 
the cause of its being dumb. It had evidently 
been one of the earliest specimens of a grand ever 
manufactured, as its compass showed, and probably, 
being found to be too large to get into the room 
in which it was placed, and too old to be saleable, 
a carpenter had been employed to sever it in two, 
leaving the front part in the room to be utilized as 
a kind of chiffonier for placing ornaments upon. 
Such was the sad fate of a pianoforte that, for all 
one knew, might, from its age, have once belonged 
to John Cramer. 

The mention of this time-honoured name re- 
minds me that, when a boy, I was introduced by 
my father to the composer of the celebrated 
studies. This introduction took place in Regent 
Street, and I can, in imagination, even now see 
John Cramer before me, an old man of benign 
appearance, looking as if he had wellnigh finished 
his labours in the cause of musical art. Well ! he 
still lives in his beautiful studies, and although 
they not unfrequently recall the feeling of some 
of the preludes of Bach, there is an individuality 
about them which will ever secure them an hon- 
oured place in the literature of the pianoforte. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

CELEBRITIES OF THE PAST MUSICAL 
"AT HOMES 11 

AS at the close of the last chapter I incidentally 
" described my meeting with John Cramer, I 
will take the opportunity of giving an account of 
similar occasions on which I have been fortunate 
in coming across men who have made their mark 
in the history of music. 

I recollect, not long after my return from 
Germany, seeing Meyerbeer bow his acknowledg- 
ments from the gallery at the old Hanover Square 
Rooms, in recognition of the hearty greeting that 
a Philharmonic audience gave him when he was 
present at one of the concerts of this society. 

Dvorak I made the acquaintance of a good 
many years ago at an interesting gathering of 
musicians who had met, at the invitation of 
Oscar Beringer, to greet the illustrious composer. 
Dvorak was then a rough, sturdy-looking man, 
somewhere between forty and fifty years of age. 
I recollect, too, seeing him when he conducted his 

269 



270 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES <&* IMPRESSIONS 

"Spectre Bride" at the Birmingham Festival of 
1885, of which 1 will speak later on. 

Tschaikowsky I met two or three times whilst 
he was in London. The first time in the artists' 
room at the Philharmonic ; again at one of those 
interesting "at homes" Frederic Cowen so fre- 
quently gave in Hamilton Terrace. Tschaikowsky 
had a striking personality. He was a finely-built 
man, and held himself so well that he looked quite 
military in appearance. To see him then, one 
would scarcely have thought that his days were 
numbered. 

Rubinstein I not only heard at his recitals, but 
on more than one occasion had' the opportunity 
of holding some conversation with him. The first 
time 1 met him was in the artists' room at a Phil- 
harmonic concert at the Hanover Square Rooms. 
I was indulging in a glass of sherry between the 
parts, and 1 invited him to take one with me ; but 
he said, " On no account before playing," as he 
was due for a concerto in the second part. 

On another occasion I saw him at the house 
where he was staying in London. I think Carl 
Rosa was there too, and both of them were 
smoking cigarettes. Rubinstein offered me one, 
which of course I accepted. 

A fine head for a painter had Rubinstein. It 
reminded me of the portraits of Beethoven, al- 



CELEBRITIES OF THE PAST 271 

though it must have been on a grander scale, for 
he was a man of large proportions, and evidently 
of splendid muscular development. I recollect 
when I was with my friend, the late George 
Norbury, at a Crystal Palace concert, where 
Rubinstein was playing one of his concertos, that 
when he started the pianoforte solo with & fortis- 
simo chord at the top of the instrument, darting 
with lightning speed to the opposite extreme in 
the bass, followed by a rapid arpeggio up again, 
my friend turned to me and, in his astonishment, 
said, " Why, he's an athlete ! " 

Rubinstein, without doubt, set the example for 
the athletic style of pianoforte playing, where so 
many chords are taken from what seems to be a 
dangerous height. Certainly pianists of this school 
must be seen as well as heard, in order to fully 
appreciate their great feats of bravura. 

Von Biilow, whom I have already mentioned 
among the pianists I heard at Leipsic, was another 
musical celebrity that I often came across when in 
London. The last time I met him was at Stanley 
Lucas's music-rooms in Bond Street. He was 
quite a contrast to Rubinstein, being short and 
of slight build ; but what he lacked in stature he 
made up in energy. As a conductor, I am told, 
he was unsurpassed ; but with the English public 
he is best remembered as a pianist through the 



272 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

series of recitals he gave at St. James's Hall, 
which were the "draw" of the season of 1873. 
His performance of Schubert's placid Impromptu 
in G was a notable instance of true expression, and 
it left a lasting impression upon me. In brilliant 
passages he was most effective, but he sometimes 
missed notes. This was probably due to the fact 
that, instead of looking at the keys, his face was al- 
most always turned towards the audience, so that it 
was wellnigh impossible for a late-comer to enter 
the hall while he was at the piano without escaping 
his observation. At one of his recitals he indi- 
cated in a very characteristic manner his disapproval 
of any one disturbing him whilst playing. It so 
happened that two ladies were making their way 
to their seats at the very moment he finished the 
introduction of the first movement of Beethoven's 
Sonata Pathetique. This so irritated him that he 
purposely commenced the allegro at such an ab- 
surdly slow pace as to make the quavers in the 
bass correspond exactly to the time of the ladies' 
footsteps. As may be imagined, they felt on 
thorns whilst walking to their places, and hurried 
on as fast as they possibly could, whilst Von 
Biilow accelerated his tempo in sympathy with 
their increasing pace. It was only when they had 
seated themselves that he took the proper speed 
of the allegro. The musical effect of this extra- 



CELEBRITIES OF THE PAST 



273 



ordinary proceeding was probably somewhat as 
follows : 



Adagio 



accell 



Liz 


1 crrd ^- 6r<S. 


1 ^ = 1 


J 7 


_^-^- M -^- ^; 


ZgS* [- 1 






r ^x *: i-' j 


J J J ^4- 


^^^ 


^^^ / t"l ^P* 


+ ~T 


^ 




i i 




^ J: ^ ^t 
;o//^ accell: Allegro 


9 ! P J 


n^rnp r u ^c 


? v ""'j 1 


>T [7 k 1 <=H 


C i - i F 






i F 


^ D^ | 


t di n/*^J 


1 ' 




tJ 


1 1 


&c. 


-=f- -^J- 




-a- -^- 



I have already said that I heard the Swedish 
nightingale, Jenny Lind, sing at many concerts, 
both in England and Germany. In addition to 
this, on one occasion I was fortunate enough 
to have the privilege of spending an evening at 
her house. This was not long after the perform- 
ance of my Symphony in A Minor at the Musical 
Society of London. I received a very courteous 
letter from her husband, Otto Goldschmidt, ex- 
pressing a wish to make my acquaintance, and 
asking me whether I would come to dine at his 
house and meet my fellow-student, Arthur Sullivan. 
Needless to say, I accepted the invitation, and 



274 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

spent a most enjoyable and interesting evening, 
which I shall always look back upon as being one 
of the most agreeable episodes in my life. 

During the dinner we talked about Leipsic and 
its musical doings. Sullivan was amusing as usual, 
and I think I left most of the conversation to him, 
since I found it could not be in better hands. 

Then we went into the drawing-room, and 
Madame Goldschmidt sang several of her husband's 
Lieder. How beautifully she interpreted them 
can readily be imagined. When I left, I felt how 
refreshing it was to find greatness allied to such 
charming simplicity and amiability. 

In regard to Wagner, I was only fortunate in 
catching a view of him on one or two occasions. 

These were during the Wagner Festival at the 
Albert Hall, which took place in 1887, and which 
introduced Hans Richter to the British public as 
a conductor. On one occasion I saw the Bayreuth 
composer to especial advantage. This was between 
the parts of one of the concertos, when he was 
going to the artists' room, arm-in-arm with Dann- 
reuther. Wagner's face wore a very animated 
expression, for he was evidently excited with the 
success his music had achieved with an English 
public the same public that not long before had 
looked upon him askance as a ruthless musical 
revolutionist, bent upon destroying the older school 



CELEBRITIES OF THE PAST 275 

of music the music of Mozart, of Haydn, and 
even perhaps of Beethoven and of substituting 
in its place what he styled the music of the future, 
a form of musical language foreign to its ears and 
sounding chaotic to the lovers of the old school. 

Time has shown that Wagner was not only a 
great composer, but a great prophet as well, for 
the music of the future has indeed become the 
music of to-day, although, if one goes into the 
history of the Wagnerian school, it is really now 
the music of the past not of the remote past, but 
of the nearer past, if one may so express it. For 
was it not inaugurated by Berlioz and placed in 
a more attractive and dramatic light by Wagner 
more than sixty years ago, although it was not 
then universally acknowledged ? Right was it, 
therefore, that Wagner should wear an almost 
triumphant look as I saw him pass near to me, 
since he beheld in the success of his music at the 
Albert Hall the dawn of his ultimate popularity 
in England. 

There are still, however, many in this country 
who shake their heads ominously if you speak to 
them about Wagner, showing that they are not 
yet converted to his school of dramatic music. 
They would gladly hail the performance of such 
works as "Faust," "Rigoletto," and "The Hugue- 
nots." Perhaps the greatest proof of Wagner's 



276 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES &> IMPRESSIONS 

triumph is to be found in the remarkable influence 
he has exercised upon the style of modern com- 
posers. Imitation is said to be the sincerest 
flattery ; and in this case, surely no composer 
since Mendelssohn has ever been the recipient of 
so much homage indeed, scarcely a new compo- 
sition for orchestra is brought before the public 
but unmistakable traces of the Wagnerian in- 
fluence are present. 

Not only has orchestral music been influenced 
by his style, but, to a great extent, pianoforte 
music as well. This is all the more remarkable, as 
Wagner wrote nothing of importance for the in- 
strument of our homes. It was, perhaps, in a 
great manner due to Liszt that the Wagnerian 
methods were brought to bear fruit in regard to 
pianoforte music. For the wonderful flights of 
bravura which the Abbe infused into his piano- 
forte compositions, made it possible, in a way, to 
imitate, or find an equivalent in that instrument 
for, the extra brilliancy of instrumentation which 
Wagner introduced into his orchestral scores. 

Liszt, moreover, had characteristics of his own. 
He was also a musical revolutionist. Many say he 
went too far that in endeavouring to produce 
new and weird effects of harmony he disre- 
garded the first principles of art, which should, 
before all things, have beauty for its model ; that 



CELEBRITIES OF THE PAST 277 

he let his music run riot, and so forth. It is not 
for me to pose as an arbitrator on such a momentous 
question, but it is certain that he too, like Wagner, 
has exercised a remarkable influence upon the 
style of modern pianoforte music. Undoubtedly 
he is heard to the best advantage in compositions 
for that instrument, on which he was, according to 
all accounts, the most marvellous exponent that 
the world has ever produced. Unfortunately, he 
never performed in public whilst I was in Leipsic, 
so that it was not until 8 April, 1886, that I had 
an opportunity of hearing him. This was on the 
occasion of the reception given in his honour by 
Walter Bache on that date. Then, of course, he 
was very old, so old-looking, with his white hair 
reaching wellnigh to his shoulders, that it seemed 
almost uncanny to hear him perform feats of 
virtuosite that would have been wonderful in a 
vigorous young pianist. He played twice that 
evening. One of his performances, if I remember 
rightly, was the improvising on a theme of 
Schubert. 

It was a most interesting occasion, this Jwmmage 
a Liszt ; and certainly the late Walter Bache, my 
former fellow-student at Leipsic, deserved the 
thanks of all present for the opportunity afforded 
of hearing the far-famed Abbe, whose name will 
be handed down to posterity as the king of pianists. 



278 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

But for this occasion, the majority of those 
assembled, myself included, would never have 
heard him. I saw him again, however, at the 
splendid reception given in his honour at Mr. H. 
Littleton's palatial house at Norwood. Liszt did 
not play, and many of those present were disap- 
pointed, as all nursed a lingering hope that he 
might be prevailed upon to give them yet another 
opportunity of hearing him before he quitted our 
shores for ever. 

Sir Arthur Sullivan was at the reception, and 
after its conclusion he drove me to town in his 
brougham. I was glad to find myself again in 
Sullivan's company, and I think, whilst we chatted 
together, we each felt the same enjoyment in one 
another's society that we used to experience when 
we were fellow-students at Leipsic. He showed 
me the cigarette-case that the Duke of Edinburgh 
had given to him, and, of course, pressed me to 
smoke a cigarette. 

One of the greatest champions in the cause of 
the music of both Liszt and Wagner was the late 
Dr. Francis Hueffer, who succeeded Mr. J. W. 
Davison as musical critic of " The Times." 
Davison had unmistakably been opposed to the 
Wagnerian theories, but Hueffer not only believed 
in them, but actively propagated them through 
the medium of the powerful journal in whose 



CELEBRITIES OF THE PAST 279 

columns he represented the cause of music. He 
also became editor of a new weekly musical 
journal started by the firm of Novello & Co., and 
called "Concordia." This gave him increased 
opportunities of furthering the cause of the 
music of the future. 

Dr. Hueffer, it may be interesting to state, was 
married to a daughter of the late Madox Brown, 
the celebrated painter. It so happened that Miss 
Brown had been a school companion of my sister 
Emma, so that the early friendship formed between 
the two girls, in after years led indirectly to my 
becoming very intimate with Dr. Hueffer. 

Like many of us, he was not entirely free from 
some popular superstitions. He told me that on 
one occasion, contrary to his custom, he walked 
quite bravely under a ladder, which, as every one 
knows, is considered to be very unlucky. He felt 
quite complacent at his courage, and was prepared 
to boast of this feat to his wife, when, on returning 
home, he found that a fire which had broken out 
in his study had done a considerable amount of 
damage. He resolved never to incur the risk 
again. 

My memory recalls a very interesting reception 
that Dr. Hueffer gave at his house in Brook 
Green in honour of Saint-Saens, the great French 
composer. I was delighted to have had an oppor- 



280 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

tunity of speaking with the most prominent repre- 
sentative of the French school of classical music. 
During the evening 1 played my Romance in A flat, 
which I originally wrote as a supplement for " Con- 
cordia," and I was very gratified at what he said, 
both in regard to the little composition and to my 
playing. He was most charming in society, and 
also highly appreciative. 

The receptions of the late Madame Lemmens- 
Sherrington, the accomplished soprano singer, at 
her house in Finchley Road, were often both in- 
teresting and enjoyable, and I heard there to great 
advantage many of the popular artists of the day. 
At one of these entertainments a, contralto singer 
brought with her some MS. Swedish songs, but 
as the copy was written for soprano, and conse- 
quently too high for her, she inquired whether any 
pianist present would volunteer to transpose these 
songs a fourth lower. This being a rather big 
order in the way of transposition at sight, no one 
seemed inclined to respond to the invitation, al- 
though several well-known and able musicians 
were appealed to. Madame Sherrington then 
asked me whether I would undertake the task ! 
I looked at the songs, and seeing a way, through 
imaginary clefs and keys, I eventually consented. 
When my task had been accomplished, I was 
complimented on the manner in which I had 
manoeuvred the transposition with such success. 



MUSICAL "AT HOMES" 281 

En passant, I will say a few words about an 
" at home " I gave not many years ago at my 
house at 8 Marlborough Place, St. John's Wood. 
I had invited one of my pupils, Miss Gwendoline 
Toms, who was then studying under me at the 
Royal College of Music, and who was an excellent 
pianist. Having asked her if she would bring 
two of her fellow-students with her, she accord- 
ingly introduced a singer and a violinist. Both 
Miss Toms and the violinist, Miss Chew, had 
played with great effect, when I asked the other 
young lady to sing. 

She had not sung many bars before we became 
aware that we were listening to a contralto voice 
of remarkable beauty and richness of tone. When 
she had finished we said to one another, " What 
a grand voice this girl possesses ; surely a great 
future is in store for her ! " And we were right, 
for the Royal College student that had so en- 
thralled us was no other than Clara Butt, then 
unknown to fame. 

The late Mrs. Henry Wylde was wont to give 
many a brilliant reception in connexion with the 
London Academy of Music. Some of them took 
place at the Portman Rooms. On one of these 
occasions, several years ago, she introduced me to 
Miss Mary Tussaud, whom I married, as I have 
already mentioned, in the year 1891. On the 



282 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES <2r> IMPRESSIONS 

evening of our first meeting, at the reception 
just alluded to, I found that she was in the com- 
pany of a lady and a gentleman who had escorted 
her to this festive gathering. Somehow or other, 
upon being introduced, I had not caught their 
names. Inquiring of Miss Tussaud, I learnt that 
they were Mr. Max Pemberton and his wife, one 
of Miss Tussaud's sisters. It was not surprising 
that the name of Max Pemberton was then un- 
known to me, as at that time he had not given to 
the world those stirring works of fiction which 
have made his name a household word amongst us. 

Whilst on the subject of receptions, I ought 
not to omit mentioning the very' enjoyable enter- 
tainments that the late Mrs. Roche used to give, 
many years ago, at Cadogan Gardens, at not a few 
of which I was present. Mrs. Roche was a 
daughter of Moscheles, and her daughter Nina, as 
I have already said, studied piano in my class, 
when at the National Training School of Music. 

At Mrs. Roche's receptions there were often 
quite a large number of representative musicians, 
with many celebrities from the art world, no doubt 
friends of her brother, Felix Moscheles, the dis- 
tinguished artist. 

Apart from music, the principal attractions at 
these evenings were the dramatic performances 
got up by Mrs. Roche's family, in which the late 



MUSICAL AT HOMES" 283 

Charles Dickens, son of the famous novelist, fre- 
quently took part. Not only did Mrs. Roche's 
daughters paint all the scenery, which was very 
effective, but many of the pieces performed were 
written by them, and very cleverly written too. 

I recollect, in one of the French plays in which 
they acted, the scene represents a narrow street in 
some old French town. At one of the windows 
in this street, in an upper story, a young girl is 
seen watering a plant, and whilst she is so engaged 
she accidentally knocks over both the plant and the 
flower-pot. They fall upon the head of a young 
gentleman passing beneath, crushing his silk hat 
out of recognition. This, of course, leads to an 
amusing scene between him and the girl. 

The gentleman is at first indignant with the 
author of his misfortune, and, to add to his dis- 
comfiture, the young lady is unable to refrain 
from laughing at the sorry figure he presents with 
his battered hat ; but, as may be expected, the con- 
sequence of the accident is a match between the 
two. 

Another piece performed at one of these even- 
ings took the form of a charade. This particular 
evening had been given specially in honour of a 
celebrated singer and composer from the Father- 
land, who had then not been long in England, and 
the charade had been written by one of the Misses 



284 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES <2r> IMPRESSIONS 

Roche. The first syllable of the proposed word 
was easily guessed, as meaning " hen." The next 
also was not a difficult problem to solve, and it was 
soon discovered that " shell " was the solution to 
it. It was at once perceived that the answer to 
the charade was present in the room to represent 
bodily the entire word ; which, as may be surmised, 
was " Henschell." 

Every one was greatly amused by the charade, 
Henschell himself as much as any one in the room. 

One evening Charles Dickens, son of the famous 
novelist of that name, gave a fine recitation of his 
father's " Boots at the Swan," which the audience 
enjoyed immensely. The father's style of recita- 
tion seemed to have found its reflex in the son's 
method, and we .felt that, next to hearing the 
original, we did not fare badly in listening to so 
charming a rendering of the humorous sketch. 
Mr. Henry Dickens, the distinguished advocate 
and K.C., and brother to the above, was fre- 
quently present on these occasions with his wife, 
a daughter of Mrs. Roche. A conspicuous figure 
at these receptions was Mrs. Roche's mother, 
Madame Moscheles, widow of the celebrated com- 
poser and pianist. She was quite a handsome old 
lady, with an almost youthful contour of feature, 
and hair so white and venerable that in its pro- 
fusion it might have rivalled even that of Liszt. 



MUSICAL "AT HOMES" 285 

It was a face that such an artist as Rembrandt 
would have delighted in. 

I had many an interesting conversation with 
Madame Moscheles about music and musicians 
connected with the time in which her distinguished 
husband flourished. 



CHAPTER XXX 

THE TOY SYMPHONY: LEIPSIC AND 
LONDON "THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP 11 

T OOKING back upon my student days at 
-*^ Leipsic, I recollect that at the end of the 
summer quarter the earnestness of study was re- 
lieved by some festivities, or entertainments, in 
which the pupils of the Conservatorium took part. 
At one of these we performed the Toy Symphony 
of Romberg. Amongst those who took part in 
it were Arthur .Sullivan, who conducted, Carl 
Rosa, and Franklin Taylor. I was also among 
the performers, and I believe I played the rattle. 
Whilst conducting, Sullivan assumed a mock 
seriousness that was very droll, and altogether our 
playing caused much amusement amongst the 
professors, students, and others who were present. 
History is ever repeating itself, and so, many 
years afterwards, a performance of the same Toy 
Symphony took place at St. James's Hall on 
14 May, 1880, in which Sullivan and myself again 
took part. On this interesting occasion every toy 

instrument was played by some well-known 

286 




c = 
e J 
a'O 



53 3 



O 5 

3'rt 



THE TOY SYMPHONY 287 

musician of the day. The concert at which this 
symphony was performed was got up by the 
Countess Folkestone for a charity, and the details 
were carried out by Henry Leslie, who conducted. 

It was very funny to hear Sullivan play the 
cuckoo with just the same air of importance that 
he would have worn if he had been handling a 
legitimate instrument. Then there was Ran- 
degger hitting hard at a toy drum ; Benedict was 
engaged with the bells ; Halle played the quail ; 
Barnby, the nightingale ; Blumenthal, the rattle ; 
Stainer and Kuhe, the toy trumpets ; whilst 
Frederick Cowen and myself rendered the sym- 
phony as a duet for the piano, in order to 
strengthen the few real orchestral instruments that 
represented the strings. These were performed by 
the following well-known musicians : 1st violins, 
W. G. Cusins and August Manns ; 2nd violins, 
Carl Rosa and Charles Santley ; viola, W. Ganz ; 
and 'cello, Daubert. 

The public were delighted at seeing so many 
celebrities in the musical world playing upon gro- 
tesque toy instruments ; but to those who took 
part in it the rehearsal was even more amusing, as 
we all enjoyed the affair as a huge musical joke. 

To return to more serious events, I will say 
something about the composing of my cantata, 



288 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

" The Building of the Ship." This, in the order of 
production, was the fifth of my works for chorus 
and orchestra, and it was written for the Leeds 
Festival of 1880, and produced on 13 October of 
that year. 

The idea of writing a cantata on Longfellow's 
well-known poem was the result of looking over a 
book of the poetical works of the great American 
bard. 

I think I was at first attracted by "Evangeline" 
as being a suitable subject, but I found the lengthy 
metre of the poem likely to be a stumbling-block, 
musically speaking. After glancing at some of the 
other poems, I came across " The Building of the 
Ship," and at once saw that it presented many 
good opportunities to the composer. It also opened 
a new field of ideas for musical illustration. In 
my " Ancient Mariner " and " Paradise and the 
Peri " the subjects of the poems had more or less 
to do with the supernatural or purely imaginative ; 
but in "The Building of the Ship" the poet treated 
a theme of everyday life. Around such ordinary 
and prosaic details as are to be found in a ship- 
building yard he had ingeniously evolved a halo of 
romance by introducing the episode in which the 
master promised the hand of his daughter to his 
apprentice when the building of the ship should 
have been accomplished. Although the love epi- 



"THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP" 289 

sode is one of the most attractive features in the 
poem, much interest attaches to the graphic de- 
scription of the construction of the vessel and the 
toil of the workers engaged upon it, and to this I 
was anxious to do full justice. Fortunately, an 
opportunity presented itself which enabled me to 
study to the best advantage the local colour re- 
quired. 

It happened that in the year 1878 a performance 
of my " Ancient Mariner " had been arranged at a 
concert given in Portsmouth for the benefit of the 
widows and orphans of those who had perished in 
the ill-fated "Eurydice," which capsized off the 
Isle of Wight in the March previous. The concert 
was got up by Mr. MacChean, of Southsea, an 
amateur singer with a charming tenor voice. He 
invited me to stay at his house not only on the 
night of the performance, but for several days fol- 
lowing it. Moreover, he proposed the very thing 
I had been wishing for that we should go and 
inspect the Portsmouth dockyards. Whilst wit- 
nessing the construction of a great battleship, I 
endeavoured to imbue myself with the wondrous 
feeling that fills an eye-witness of the busy scene 
so finely described by Longfellow in the lines : 

And soon throughout the shipyard's bounds 
Were heard the intermingled sounds 
Of axes and of mallets plied 
With vigorous arms on every side. 



290 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

During the few days I was at Portsmouth I saw 
as much of the famous dockyards as it was pos- 
sible to see in so limited a time. 

Had I been a prince from foreign lands, I could 
not have received more attention and kindness from 
the officials. 1 was first invited to hear a lecture 
on torpedoes and mines, which left me in a mur- 
derous frame of mind, with sufficient knowledge, 
as I thought, to have blown up our enemies' finest 
battleships, had occasion presented. 

I was asked to spend a morning on one of the 
great transports, and was shown over it by the 
captain, who explained its wonderful arrangements. 
Captain Thunder was his name-j-a name sufficient 
in itself to strike one with awe. His appearance 
and manner, however, belied his name, for never 
had I met a more amiable and kind-hearted man. 
At luncheon he proved himself to be an excellent 
host, although at a sea-fight I had no doubt he 
could prove a host in himself. I was likewise 
present on one of the warships whilst the gunners 
were practising with the gatling, and was sur- 
prised at the wonderful range to which these 
weapons can carry havoc and destruction. 

Then below decks I saw the bluejackets mov- 
ing one of the big guns from one port-hole to 
another on the opposite side of the vessel. In the 
gloom of the nether deck they appeared rather 



"THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP' 1 291 

like weird gnomes than men. At the word of 
command they rushed at the gun as a pack of 
hounds seizes its quarry. It might have been a 
child's toy-gun, so easily did they handle it. I 
must confess, however, to a certain amount of ner- 
vousness on the ground of what my organs of 
hearing might suffer should they have fired the 
gun. It is well known that a sudden shock to the 
tympanum is not unattended with danger to the 
delicate tissues of which this organ is composed. 

When I was at Leipsic, Hauptmann told me 
that the popular song-writer Abt on one occasion 
was standing very close to a steam-engine when he 
was quite deafened by the shrill noise of the whistle. 
Fortunately, he recovered his hearing, but it left a 
curious after-effect : he found that the power he 
had in recognizing the actual pitch of notes was 
curtailed, so that all the upper notes beyond the 
treble C above the staff were undistinguishable by 
him. I therefore felt relieved that the gun was not 
given an opportunity of showing off its stentorian 
powers, especially as 1 had no cotton- wool at hand. 

Rowing back from the warships to the shore, 1 
saw something quite new to me. It was a fish 
torpedo skimming along the surface of the sea, 
like some marvellous flying fish. It passed really 
within a very short distance of our boat I thought 
almost too near to be safe. 



292 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

When I returned home from my visit to Ports- 
mouth, I felt aglow with the novel sensations 
caused by my exciting experiences at Portsmouth, 
and I lost no time in setting to work to give 
musical colour to those words of Longfellow in 
which he describes the building of the ship. 

The line, "With axes and with mallets," es- 
pecially interested me ; and I sought in the instru- 
mentation to give it as realistic an interpretation 
as was practicable. This I have contrived by short 
notes in unison for the wind, alternating with the 
kettledrum. Eugene D'Albert, who heard the 
cantata at the London rehearsal, particularly con- 
gratulated me upon this orchestral effect as being 
very descriptive. 

When I had completed the music for the first 
half of the poem, and was becoming more than 
ever entranced with the beauty of Longfellow's 
verses, I could not refrain from writing to the 
author, to tell him of the work I was engaged 
upon. He wrote me in reply a very courteous 
letter, which I have carefully preserved. I give 
below some extracts from it : 

BANDEIDGE, 26 Dec., 1879. 
MY DEAR SIR, 

I am glad to hear by your letter that you 
find in " The Building of the Ship " a theme for a 
cantata. It is a compliment which I appreciate, 



"THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP" 293 

and I look forward to its completion with great 
interest. . . . 

With many thanks for your good intention, and 
all good wishes for Xmas and the New Year, 

1 am, my dear Sir, 

Yours very truly, 

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. 

The poem, I found as I went on with my work, 
presented great variety for musical treatment. 
This, to me, was a source of much satisfaction, 
for opportunities continually unfolded themselves, 
tempting me to exert myself to the utmost to do 
them justice. There were not only occasions for 
descriptive, but also for dramatic music. Of the 
latter, I may instance the wonder and joy to which 
the people gave vent when they saw the ship being 
launched, and which the poet has set forth in these 
beautiful lines : 

Take her, O bridegroom old and grey, 
Take her to thy protecting arms, 
With all her youth and all her charms. 

Then how inspiring are the impressive words 
uttered by the pastor who performed the marriage 
service on board the newly launched vessel : 

Like unto ships far off at sea, 
Outward or homeward bound are we. 



294 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

At the Leeds Festival I was delighted to find 
how well the cantata was received by the audience. 
The grandeur of tone the choir imparted to the 
chorus, " Thus with the rising of the sun," called 
forth an irresistible encore. 

Two other numbers also were redemanded ; 
these were the tenor air, " Ah ! how skilful grows 
the hand," and the bass solo and chorus, "The 
prayer is said." The solos were taken by Miss 
Anna Williams, Madame Patey, Edward Lloyd, 
and Henschell. 

After the performance of my work, which occu- 
pied the first part of the concert, I received the 
congratulations of the president of the festival, 
the Duke of Edinburgh, to whom I had dedicated 
the cantata. 

At the Worcester Festival of 1881 my " Build- 
ing of the Ship," which had gone the round of the 
choral societies, was performed. I conducted on 
the occasion, and the work met with a very warm 
reception. At its conclusion I went to the 
chapter-house of the cathedral, which was used 
as the artists' room. There, among the other 
artists, I saw Joseph Maas, one of the most gifted 
tenors of the last century. 

In the autumn of the same year in which this 
performance of my cantata took place, I had 
promised an orchestral work for the Norwich 



"THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP" 295 

Festival. This was my suite, "The Harvest 
Festival," and I dedicated it to Lady Brassey. 

The day on which it was performed happened 
to be one of the stormiest on record ; in fact, a 
hurricane was raging which uprooted trees and 
did much damage all over the country. 

During the interval in the morning I went to 
the artists' room to look over my work, which was 
to be produced in the evening, and which needed 
a few corrections. This room was a kind of ad- 
junct to the hall, built out from it, and with a 
skylight for roof and ceiling. The storm was 
raging with increased fury, and I was not unpre- 
pared for the terrific crash of a fallen chimney, 
which seemed as if it had crushed in the ceiling of 
the room we were in. Pieces of brick and slate 
came flying about us. The artists' room had a 
very narrow escape. If the chimney-stack had 
been blown over in an opposite direction, it must 
inevitably have fallen through the skylight upon 
those of us assembled below. No wonder we con- 
gratulated one another upon our escape ! 

Several years after the Norwich Festival at 
which my "suite" was produced, I added a new 
movement to it, besides making many important 
alterations in the instrumentation. In this form 
it was given at the Philharmonic Society of 
London on 31 May, 1888, under the title of the 



296 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

" Pastoral Suite." I may incidentally mention that 
not many years ago I conducted an excellent per- 
formance of it at Leeds ; the concert at which it 
was given was one of a series inaugurated by 
that indefatigable and accomplished musician, Mr. 
Edgar Haddock, who has done so much good to 
the cause of music in Yorkshire. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

"THE WISHING BELL 11 

TUST twelve years after the production of my 
** "Harvest Festival" I was again down for 
another work for the Norwich Festival ; this was 
my cantata for female voices, " The Wishing Bell," 
to which I have already alluded in an earlier 
chapter. 

As I had originally written this cantata with a 
view to its performance on a large scale, its intro- 
duction at the festival was only in accordance with 
the general character and scope of the work. 

There are many who regard the cantata for 
female voices as a form of art of a less elevated 
class of work than that written for a full choir of 
mixed voices. This idea is the outcome of the 
fact that so many short works of an ephemeral 
character have been written for female voices, suit- 
able for performances at ladies' schools. Such 
cantatas are usually very simple indeed, and the 
subjects chosen are generally about flowers or 
fairies. 

When Miss Jetta Vogel sent me the libretto for 

297 



298 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

the cantata, I saw at once that the subject of 
" The Wishing Bell " presented some fine opportu- 
nities for' a composer. It was altogether on a 
broader scale than any libretto I have had sent 
me on approval for this class of cantata. 

The story of the poem is founded upon an old 
custom still in existence amongst the simple people 
who inhabit the neighbourhood of the Lake of 
Veldes, Carniola, South Austria. There is a small 
island in this picturesque lake, upon which centu- 
ries ago the convent church of St. Mary of the 
Lake was built, and in the tower of which hangs 
the Wishing Bell. The belief was, and still holds 
good in this locality, that the ringing of this 
bell, as an accompaniment to their prayers, secures 
the fulfilment of their wishes. When, therefore, 
the bell is heard from the shores of the lake, it is 
known that some one in distress is praying to 
Heaven for help. 

It is supposed in the libretto of the cantata, the 
story of which relates to mediasval times, that a 
raid is being made upon the inhabitants of Veldes 
by some hostile bands. The leader of the force 
that is defending the homes of the peasantry sends 
his mother and his bride to the little island upon 
which the church stands to ring the Wishing 
Bell and pray for victory, as a battle is imminent. 
Returning, the two women are met by a crowd of 



"THE WISHING BELL" 299 

others who have been watching the fight from the 
hills, and from them they learn that their loved 
ones have vanquished the foe and gained a com- 
plete victory. 

The "Wishing Bell" was produced at the 
Norwich Festival on 9 October, 1893 ; but as 
the occurrences of that time belong more to the 
present than the past, it is hardly necessary to 
enter into any description of the excellent per- 
formance I was privileged to conduct of my 
cantata. I may say, however, that, with one 
exception, it had the advantage of all the re- 
sources of the great festival, which have been 
brought to such a pitch of excellence by its inde- 
fatigable conductor, Alberto Randegger. 

The exception alluded to was the absence of the 
male voices of the choir, and for which no one 
was to blame but myself, as I had elected to write 
a work in which the sterner sex was not allowed a 
part. Should I ever be permitted, at some future 
date, to write another choral work for this festival, 
I shall take care to make amends to the gentlemen 
of the choir for having left them out in the cold 
on the former occasion. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

MUSIC OF THE PAST: A RESUME 

TTTE all know how unreliable a faculty is mem- 
ory. I must therefore be pardoned if, in the 
course of these reminiscences, I have omitted to 
mention several musical events of special interest 
that came under my personal notice. I will, how- 
ever, endeavour to make amends. 

To go back a long way : I was present on the 
occasion of the first performance in England of 
Arthur Sullivan's " Tempest " music at the Crystal 
Palace, on 5 April, 1862. In imagination, I 
again see Sullivan, who had been sitting in the 
body of the concert-room, leave his seat at the 
close of the performance, and hurry on to the plat- 
form to acknowledge the hearty recall with which 
the audience greeted him, his face beaming with 
the excitement of a first triumph. 

Then, I heard Schubert's great Symphony in C 
at a concert of the Musical Society, when it was 
introduced for the first time to a London audience. 

With Alfred Mellon as conductor, the work was 

finely played ; nevertheless, it fell flat and evoked 

300 



MUSIC OF THE PAST 301 

but little applause. The cool reception awarded 
to the symphony was, undoubtedly, due to the 
tempi being far too slow much slower than I had 
been accustomed to in the performances of the 
work at Leipsic under Rietz. 

The reappearance of Madame Norman-Neruda 
(Lady Charles Halle") at the concert of the Phil- 
harmonic Society, at which I was present, and 
which took place on 22 May, 1871, was an event 
of great interest. Her overwhelming success 
proved to be the death-blow to the prejudice 
which had previously existed against ladies playing 
the violin, and her example led to its being added 
to the number of instruments available for the 
gentle sex. 

It may be here stated that her debut at the 
Philharmonic Society took place so far back as 
1849, when she appeared as the child violinist, 
Mile. Wilhelmine Neruda. 

The performances given by two Italian virtuosi 
at the Philharmonic Society, somewhere during the 
sixties and seventies, seem even now quite fresh 
in my memory. One of these artists was Piatti, 
whom I had frequently heard before at Leipsic, 
where I had learnt to appreciate his marvellously 
clear execution and sympathetic tone. In later 
years I often used to see him at his house in St. 
John's Wood. He was a small, spare man, so that 



302 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

his perfect command over the violoncello was all 
the more surprising. The other executant alluded 
to was Bottesini, quite a contrast to Piatti, as he 
was both tall and athletic, and well suited to the 
large instrument he played upon. I heard him to 
great advantage at the Philharmonic Concert on 
8 May, 1871, when he performed a concerto of his 
own. Apart from the beauty of tone he produced 
from the double bass, he had quite a series of 
gymnastic feats to go through whilst executing 
bravura passages. Indeed, one had to see as well 
as to hear him, in order to appreciate to the fullest 
extent the difficulties he was overcoming. 

The Novello Oratorio Concerts, begun in the 
year 1885, gave me an opportunity of hearing 
several works of great importance. Among these 
maybe instanced Mackenzie's oratorio, "The Rose 
of Sharon " so poetical in conception which was 
given on 20 March, 1885. Then on 6 April, 1886, 
I heard Liszt's " Saint Elizabeth." At this per- 
formance the aged composer himself was present. 
On 1 December, 1887, I had an opportunity 
of hearing Frederic Cowen's " Ruth," with its 
charming and ideal pastoral music ; and again on 
15 December, 1887, there was a fine rendering of 
Stanford's Irish Symphony, in which the Hibernian 
element in music is placed amid such attractive 
musical surroundings. 



MUSIC OF THE PAST 

At the latter concert I conducted a performance 
of my "Ancient Mariner," in which the chorus 
excelled itself in beauty of tone and vigour of 
attack ; whilst the solo numbers were fortunate in 
having the interpretation of such artists as Anna 
Williams, Madame Patey, Edward Lloyd, and 
Santley. 

I attended one of the earliest performances of 
Goetz's Symphony 1 given in England, at the 
Crystal Palace Concerts, under Manns. This charm- 
ing work one rarely hears now. Another symphony 
performed at one of these concerts, which greatly 
interested me, was that by E. Silas, who has so 
long made England his home that we look upon 
him as one of our countrymen. Frederick Cliffe's 
Symphony in C minor I heard at the Crystal 
Palace on 20 April, 1889. This fresh and vigorous 
work placed its author among the foremost rank 
of native composers. Hamish McCunn's over- 
ture, "Land of the Mountain and the Flood," I 
heard at one of the same concerts on 5 November, 
1887, and was greatly impressed by its fine 
orchestral colouring. 

Some recollections of Gounod, Dvorak, and 
Grieg crop up in my memory in connexion with 
their doings at Birmingham Festivals. 

1 First performed in England at Madame Viard Louis' concert on 
17 December, 1878, conducted by Weist Hill. 



304 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

I was present at a most interesting rehearsal in 
1882. This was the London rehearsal for the 
festival of that year. Gounod was in fine form 
whilst conducting his " Redemption." How proud 
he looked as he surveyed the splendid orchestra 
he was about to direct ! And well he might, 
knowing that his work was about to be introduced 
at one of those grand musical gatherings that had 
introduced Mendelssohn's masterpiece to the world. 
Then had he not scored a greater financial success 
in regard to an oratorio than any composer before, 
and probably than any one since ? inasmuch as he 
was to be the happy recipient of no less a sum 
than 3000 for the first performance of his work. 
At this rehearsal the " March to Calvary " made a 
deep impression upon every one present. All, too, 
were more or less excited by the fact of hearing 
the new oratorio conducted by the composer of 
" Faust." I heard it in its complete form at the 
Festival itself, and was greatly struck with the 
wonderfully weird effects Gounod has produced 
by the use of chromatic intervals. 

At the following festival, in 1885, I heard his 
" Mors et Vita." Gounod did not conduct his 
work, but left it to the care of Hans Richter, who 
secured for it a fine performance. 

Dvorak's first appearance at the Festival was 
quite an event in the musical world. As he 



MUSIC OF THE PAST 305 

ascended the platform, great interest was felt by 
all present at seeing before them a musician who, 
by his genius, not only had risen from an obscure 
origin to a high position in society, but who had 
likewise created for himself an undying name as 
a composer. 

The first performance of Dvorak's "Spectre's 
Bride " at this Festival left a deep and lasting im- 
pression upon me. Near the end of the cantata, 
when Albani was singing with great dramatic 
power, and the orchestra was giving forth incanta- 
tion-like effects with mysterious bells clanging the 
while, a feeling akin to " creepy " was produced 
as the horrors depicted in the libretto were in 
progress, musically coloured in such a realistic 
manner. 

It was a wonderful specimen of conducting to 
which Grieg treated us when he directed the per- 
formance of his " Holberg Suite," arranged for 
strings, and given at the Festival of 1888. One 
could never have divined that such novel effects 
could have been produced out of these instru- 
ments unaided by the wind. At this same festival 
I heard Hubert Parry's oratorio, "Judith," in the 
choral writing of which the ingenious contrapuntal 
devices employed by the composer are made the 
vehicle of the highest form of musical expression, 
combining nobility of thought with religious en- 



306 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES &> IMPRESSIONS 

thusiasm. Another opportunity of hearing this 
fine work presented itself at the Novello Oratorio 
Concerts in December, 1888. 

In the region of national opera I have had 
some opportunities of noting its progress in this 
country. 

As the first performance of my uncle's " Moun- 
tain Sylph " took place before I was born, it cannot 
be said that I neglected an opportunity of hearing 
it on that auspicious occasion. And, in later 
times, I do not seem to have heard it when it was 
revived at Drury Lane in 1854. But I remember 
being present, many years ago, at a musical recep- 
tion given by the late Charles- Salaman, at his 
residence, when the music from the opera was 
sung very effectively, the work being greatly 
admired. 1 

At Covent Garden, in 1864, I heard George 
Macfarren's " Helvellyn," which ran close on the 
lines of success. Goring Thomas's " Nadeschda," 
which achieved much popularity, pleased me 
greatly, so that I now wonder how it is this 
work has dropped out of the repertoire of English 
opera. It was performed for the first time at 

1 Since writing these few words about the " Mountain Sylph," I 
have, at last, had an opportunity of hearing it, as I was present at a 
most excellent performance of it given in July, 1906, by the students 
of the Guildhall School of Music, conducted by Richard Walthew. 



MUSIC OF THE PAST 307 

Drury Lane on 16 April, 1885, by the operatic 
company established and conducted by Carl Rosa, 
who devoted his best energies to the cause of 
national opera. He gave us the opportunity of 
hearing with English text foreign operas, rendered 
by such accomplished artists as Parepa, Santley, 
Charles Lyall, etc., which in the provinces were 
conducted by Mr. G. H. Betjemann. 

Stanford's " Canterbury Pilgrims," which I heard 
at Covent Garden in 1884, struck me as being 
a work of great power, both dramatically and 
musically. One chorus in it, where several con- 
flicting elements make themselves heard, was 
graphic and exciting, and was on a par both as 
regards ingenuity and effect with the wonderful 
choral ejaculations of the crowd in " Lohengrin," 
when Lohengrin himself appears upon the scene, 
navigated in so novel a manner that the astonish- 
ment of the onlookers is certainly not without 
cause. I am glad, too, that I witnessed one of 
the performances of F. H. Cowen's romantic and 
effective " Thorgrim," which took place at Drury 
Lane on 5 April, 1890. In this opera the com- 
poser has treated with highly dramatic effect the 
poetical libretto of Joseph Bennett. 

Another opera written on modern lines was 
A. C. Mackenzie's " Colombo," the libretto being 
from the pen of Dr. F. Hueffer. I was present 



308 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES <&- IMPRESSIONS 

at one of the performances of this opera, which 
took place at Covent Garden in 1883, and at once 
recognized the able manner in which the composer 
had availed himself of the opportunities the 
libretto furnished for writing music of great 
dramatic power. The Wagnerian theories, in a 
modified form, are here carried out with con- 
summate skill, enhanced by all the resources of 
modern orchestration. 

I will conclude these allusions to English opera 
with some mention of Sullivan's work in that 
field. 

There are many among his admirers who regret 
that this versatile composer did not, during his 
best years, give his ambition a higher flight than 
the region of comic opera, or, more strictly speak- 
ing, opera-bouffe. That the unique specimens of 
this popular form of light opera, which Sullivan 
threw off with such an easy hand, and which gave 
enjoyment to thousands of persons both here and 
abroad, constitute in the aggregate an achievement 
of no small value, goes without saying. For our 
composer, aided by his ever-ready collaborator, 
W. S. Gilbert, whilst affording unbounded amuse- 
ment, managed to do so without ever overstepping 
the bounds of propriety or descending into the 
commonplace in music. Nevertheless, Sullivan 
aspired to still higher things, and therefore he 



MUSIC OF THE PAST 309 

gave us " Ivanhoe." Unfortunately, for the pur- 
pose of producing this work a great speculation 
was entered into by the building and running of a 
new opera-house, so that the failure of the scheme 
as a whole damaged the success of " Ivanhoe " 
itself. This success was really of great magnitude, 
taking into account the number of times it was 
performed. I was present at one of the repre- 
sentations, and was much impressed with the 
grasp the composer evinced in treating his subject, 
and the facile manner in which he gave appro- 
priate musical colouring to the various dramatic 
situations evolved during the progress of the 
story. 

There are several other interesting musical 
events that I could recount had I sufficient space 
at my disposal. Many of these incidents, how- 
ever, do not come within the scope of these 
reminiscences, as the dates of their occurrence are 
comparatively recent. It would therefore be un- 
necessary for me to speak of the works of such 
composers as Sir Edward Elgar, Walford Davies, 
Edward German, Arthur Somervell, Coleridge 
Taylor, Charles Wood, and many others, whose 
achievements in the field of music are fresh in the 
memory of the public. 

Before closing this chapter, it may not be out 
of place to make some allusion to two occasions 



310 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

on which I appeared before the public in different 
musical capacities from those I had been accustomed 
to. At the Crystal Palace Concert on 27 October, 
1888, I ventured to essay an organ solo, and intro- 
duced for the first time my Offertoire for Organ 
in G. This piece met with so favourable a recep- 
tion that I was encouraged to commence another 
work for the organ, my Fantasia in F, which, 
however, I did not complete until a year or two 
ago. 

An event to which I shall always look back 
with pride was my appearing as conductor at the 
Philharmonic concert on 23 April, 1884. 

Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Cusins, having 
resigned his post as chef d'orcJiestre of the Phil- 
harmonic Society, the directors decided, for the 
season of 1884, upon appointing a different con- 
ductor for each concert, and I was fortunate in 
being one of the musicians selected for that post. 
At the concert that I conducted, Madame Essipoff 
played Beethoven's E flat Pianoforte Concerto. 
She used so much tempo rubpto in her performance 
of the work, that it was not an easy task to keep 
the orchestra in accord with her varying time 
changes ; but knowing the concerto as I did by 
heart, I was able to secure a perfect tout ensemble, 
and Madame Essipoff afterwards thanked me for 
the manner in which she had been supported in 



MUSIC OF THE PAST 311 

the orchestral accompaniments. It was a great 
source of enjoyment to me, likewise, to conduct 
the symphony at this concert, which happened to 
be that fresh and spontaneous work, Beethoven's 
second masterpiece in this form of classic art. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

THE SKETCH SYMPHONY (SCHUBERT'S) 

"TN previous chapters I have more than once 
-- mentioned Sir George Grove ; but I knew him 
during the greater part of his career as Mr. Grove. 
As a matter of fact, before his knighthood he 
took a more active part in the musical world than 
he did after it. Nevertheless, as Director of the 
Royal College of Music, he did not lose his interest 
in the Crystal Palace Concerts, to the success of 
which he had so greatly contributed. For when- 
ever I went to one of these performances there I 
saw Sir George, sitting in his usual seat at the 
back of the press gallery, his face beaming with 
delight at some exquisite point in a Beethoven 
symphony that was in progress. For many years 
prior to his knighthood, in fact from the time 
I returned from Germany, I had made it my 
custom to attend the Saturday concerts at the 
Palace, and seldom, if ever, did I see his seat 
unoccupied by its owner. Often I would sit down 
beside him, and thus a friendship grew up between 
us. Nevertheless, I had not then the privilege of 

312 



THE SKETCH SYMPHONY 313 

visiting at his house, though this I often wished 
for. But eventually my desires were realized, by 
the agency of Schubert, or rather by a work of 
this immortal composer. The work in question 
should rightly be called a sketch, for it was the 
sketch symphony in E that Schubert had left in a 
still more incomplete form than that colossal frag- 
ment known as the unfinished symphony in B 
Minor. 

One Saturday afternoon about the year 1880, 
after attending one of these concerts, I was walking 
with Mr. Grove towards his residence in Sydenham. 
He was talking about music as usual, when in 
the course of conversation he asked: "Did you 
ever see the wonderful sketch of Schubert that I 
have at home ? I must show it to you one day. 
It is quite unique ; there is nothing of the kind 
extant. It is the sketch of a symphony in E 
which Schubert never completed. Yet in one 
way it is perfect, for every movement is sketched 
out on scoring paper and not a bar is omitted from 
beginning to end." 

Then he went on to tell me that, with the ex- 
ception of the introduction and a small portion of 
the allegro, which is fully scored, only the subjects 
are indicated, generally without bass or harmonies. 
He also gave me some interesting information in 
regard to the history of the sketch, from which I 



314 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

learnt that it was given by Ferdinand Schubert to 
Felix Mendelssohn, and it is said that the latter 
intended to complete it, an intention which, un- 
fortunately, his premature death prevented him 
from carrying out. It then came into the posses- 
sion of his brother, Paul Mendelssohn, who, some 
years later, gave it to George Grove. 

Whilst listening to these details, an idea, that 
seemed wellnigh presumptuous, came to me : 
Could I, perhaps, try to complete the instru- 
mentation of the sketch ? I had not the courage 
then to confide my inmost wishes to Grove, but 
when I left him I carried with me a secret ambition 
to put this sketch into such shape that it might 
be available for performance. 

A week or two after this I ventured to disclose 
to Grove what I had in my mind. He was most 
interested, and asked me to go home with him in 
order to see the sketch. This was my first visit 
to the quaint old house at Lower Norwood. But 
I do not think that I then paid much attention to 
its pretty surroundings, for I was so eager to see 
this wonderful Schubert MS. 

Grove lost no time in satisfying my curiosity, 
and I was soon turning over the pages that 
Schubert's hand had traced sixty years before. I 
sat down to the piano and endeavoured to fill in 
some of the harmonies at points where only the 



THE SKETCH SYMPHONY 315 

melody was given, but found, to my disappoint- 
ment, that I could make very little of the sketch. 
I therefore asked permission to take it with me, 
promising to guard it as a treasure of great worth. 
AY hen I arrived home I made a somewhat 
serious attempt to unravel the mystery of the 
harmonies Schubert might have had in his mind 
when sketching out his symphony, and set to 
work at the first movement, where the second 
subject commences, the theme of which is for the 
clarinet, but without any clue as to what other 
instruments the composer might have intended to 
be used. I soon found that my self-imposed task 
was infinitely greater than I had anticipated. Still, 
I determined not to give it up, hopeless as it 
appeared, but resolved in the first instance to 
complete in outline the sketch of the first move- 
ment, so that I could play it over to Mr. Grove on 
the piano, and thus enable him to form an opinion 
of the general effect it would produce. In carry- 
ing out this idea I tried to imbue myself with the 
thematic feeling of the subjects. Then came the 
difficult problem of what Schubert had in his 
mind when he wrote them. For in almost every 
case these subjects, as well as the episodal matter, 
were left by him without any indication of the 
manner in which they were to be treated. Merely 
to harmonize them would have been most in- 



316 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES 6r IMPRESSIONS 

artistic in such a work as a symphony. It was 
therefore absolutely necessary that I should put 
in appropriate figures against the thematic matter, 
and often add elaborate part- writing, so that when 
finished it should sound effective as a whole. 

Whilst at work upon it, I felt the weight of the 
responsibility I had taken upon myself, for had 
not Mendelssohn, and it was said Arthur Sullivan 
too, looked at the sketch with the idea of com- 
pleting it? Sometimes I wished that those great 
musicians had endeavoured to solve the mystery 
of the harmonies that had been in Schubert's 
brain when he sketched the themes, and thus have 
relieved me from so great an undertaking. Not 
a few points in the sketch were enough to have 
puzzled the ingenuity of a conclave of musicians. 
Here is one, for instance, taken from the first 
movement, and in this case there is some indica- 
tion of harmony, but notwithstanding the effect 
as left in the sketch is quite discordant : 




&c. 



After trying several methods of fathoming the 
mystery, 1 found that adding a sustained B^ for 
the basses at once made the whole passage per- 



THE SKETCH SYMPHONY 317 

fectly intelligible. I therefore adopted this note 
as a solution of the problem, the more readily as, 
throughout the sketch, with a few exceptions, it 
is the ground notes of the harmonies that are 
omitted, even when other notes besides the melody 
are given. It therefore stands in the score I com- 
pleted as follows, the small notes being mine : 



No. 3- 

-^sf - r^- 

^ ^. _ 'jfL^ * 



r5& 



:feg-& 



1 



3" -**- ^*= 



SSr? 



Celli e Bassi. 

When I had finished my work in regard to the 
first movement, I sent the Schubert sketch to 
Mr. W. S. Rockstro to enable him to insert a 
description of it in Grove's " Dictionary." A 
week or two after I received an invitation from 
Mr. Grove to dine with him and to meet Mr. 
Rockstro, who would bring the MS. with him. 

On the appointed evening I made my way from 
West Wickham, where I was staying, and arrived 
at Grove's house somewhat earlier than the hour 
for dinner and found that he was away from home. 
After waiting some time, 1 heard voices outside, 
and on looking into the garden I saw Grove and 



318 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

Rockstro approaching, both in full tide of cheerful 
conversation. When they had come in, I noticed 
that neither of them was carrying anything that 
looked like a score, so I ventured to ask if either 
of them had the Schubert sketch. Their faces, 
which had previously been lit with happy smiles, 
fell in an instant, and without saying a word they 
rushed back to the garden and disappeared. I 
guessed but too well what had happened. They 
had left the precious MS. in the train. The only 
copy that existed in the world had gone astray ! 

After a considerable time they returned. But 
although telegrams had been sent up and down the 
line, no clue as to the whereabouts, of the sketch had 
been obtained. However, as the station-master had 
given orders to his son to make minute inquiries, 
we felt that everything possible had been done. 

The loss of the MS. threw a gloom over the 
dinner, as the chances of recovering it seemed 
extremely remote, there having been no address 
or name on the wrapper in which it was enclosed. 
Nevertheless, I played over my version of the first 
movement, with which Grove was exceedingly 
pleased. 

I was really sorry for poor Rockstro, who looked 
very guilty the whole evening, as he felt directly 
responsible for the loss of the MS. 

There being no way of getting back to West 



THE SKETCH SYMPHONY 319 

Wickham that evening, I stayed the night at 
Grove's house. The next morning, going down to 
breakfast, I was full of hope that Grove would have 
heard something of the missing sketch, but when a 
message came from the station-master saying that 
it had not been found, both Grove and myself gave 
it up as being irretrievably lost. It was therefore 
with a heavy heart that I bade adieu to Grove. 

An hour or two after I had arrived at my 
friend's in West Wickham, to my great joy I 
received a telegram saying that the MS. had been 
discovered in a railway-carriage, and that it was 
then lying at Norwood Junction. 

I was much relieved on hearing this good news, 
for I had taken great interest in the work I had 
commenced, and even then I had bestowed a large 
amount of thought and time on working out the 
sketch of the first movement. If the MS. had 
not been discovered, all that I had done would 
have been in vain. 

After this contretemps I never parted with the 
Schubert MS. until I had quite completed the 
filling out and instrumenting of the sketch. 

The details I have just given of the sketch 
symphony, and the incidents connected with it, 
formed the subject of a paper l which I read at 

1 An extract from this paper, containing an account of the incidents 
narrated in this chapter, is given in the interesting "Life of Sir 
George Grove," by Charles L. Graves. (Macmillan.) 



320 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

one of the proceedings of the Musical Association 
on 9 June, 1891. In reading this paper I gave 
several illustrations of the difficulties 1 had to 
contend with in completing Schubert's sketch in 
order to make it available for orchestral per- 
formance. 

The following extracts, in condensed form, will 
give some idea of the task I had to accomplish. 
In these examples the large notes are by Schubert, 
as indicated in his sketch. The small notes are 
those I have added. 

From the Andante: 

Andante. 



sr^rizica 




From the Soherzo: 

Allegro scherzo. . | 



THE SKETCH SYMPHONY 



321 



From the Finale: 



Ob. 




'Celli e Bassi. 

J^- 



&t= 



|J- JS 






fc-H^-topU; y-%*- L-H yrzgg: 

> ^V -^ *- fej: ^^* : 

^- -* 




45iJ 

1-iB 1; 



j 



Fag. 

-cs: 1 - 



^-^r 



*& 



r 



to 



u 



Si33 
=3^ 



^-teaw*- 



j!*I 






=3 



Viole. 



I 



--J -I I 

- 



&c. 



'j.. N , N ^L. N 



E-E 



J-" ""4- 



-| r- 



^ 



322 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

When Mr. (now Sir August) Manns saw the 
score as completed by me, he was greatly in- 
terested in it, and at once arranged to include it in 
the scheme of the Crystal Palace Concerts for the 
following season. It was performed for the first 
time at these concerts on 5 May, 1883, on which 
occasion the original MS. of the sketch was ex- 
hibited in the transept of the Palace, and it 
excited much interest. The symphony achieved 
a great success, both in regard to its reception by 
the public and to the opinions expressed in refer- 
ence to it in the press. The favourable manner 
in which it was received led to its being repeated 
the following season at the Crystal Palace Con- 
certs. 

By a curious coincidence, the first performance 
of the sketch symphony took place just two days 
before the opening of the Royal College of Music, 
to which I have already referred. So the intimacy 
that I had formed with Sir George Grove, whilst 
at work over the symphony, was still further 
strengthened by my association with him as one of 
the professors at the great musical institution 
of which he was Director. Not only did I meet 
him at the College at least twice a week, but 
during the summer I spent many a Sunday 
afternoon and evening with him in his rustic house 
at Lower Norwood. When I arrived I generally 



THE SKETCH SYMPHONY 323 

found him seated in the garden enjoying a cigar. 
He always welcomed me with the geniality which 
was his great charm. " Well, John, what's the 
news ? Have you been writing anything lately ? " 
Then, on going indoors, we would find Lady 
Grove, and he would tell her I was about to play 
a new piece to him. 

I recollect he was greatly interested on hearing 
portions of a Mass that I had commenced. I 
think I had reached the end of the Credo, when 
I played what 1 had finished to him ; and he told 
me that he considered it to be the best thing 
I had done. His encouragement led me to per- 
severe with the work to the end, and now that it 
is completed I live in the hope that it may some 
day be heard at one of the great festivals. 

Several times 1 played to him compositions 
which were on the point of a first public perform- 
ance, for I greatly valued any critical remark he 
made concerning them. Occasionally he would 
show me some rare song of Schubert, and ask me 
to try it over ; which, of course, I did with keen 
interest. Then he would let me look over speci- 
mens of the treasures he possessed in autograph 
manuscripts of the great composers perhaps a 
Beethoven sketch, or something equally interesting. 
After passing the time thus agreeably, we would 
later on go in to supper, and during the meal we 



324 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

would be enlivened by many an interesting anec- 
dote told in Sir George's best manner. 

I always looked forward to those Sunday 
afternoons at Sir George's house. But there is 
finality to everything in life ; and one day I heard 
that he was too unwell to see any one. The shadow 
of a sad event was already darkening a once happy 
home ; and, alas ! the gloom that had gathered was 
destined never to be dispelled. 

The death of Sir George severed one more link 
with the past which was associated with my earlier 
musical career. Walter Bache, Carl Rosa, and 
Sir Arthur Sullivan had already passed away, so 
that few remained with whom ,1 could talk of 
things gone by. 

Concerning the Royal College of Music, Sir 
George, a few years before his death, resigned his 
post as Director. Fortunately for that institution, 
the work that he had so ably carried out has been 
continued by his successor, Sir Hubert Parry, with 
equal energy and tact. For Sir Hubert com- 
bines with exceptional artistic instincts a thorough 
knowledge of business details, a combination of 
qualities rare among musicians. Under his direc- 
tion the College has greatly increased its sphere of 
action, added to which a noble hall has been 
erected as a home for the College concerts. These 
concerts, owing to the well-chosen programmes 



THE SKETCH SYMPHONY 325 

and the excellence of the performances given by 
the students, do much to disseminate a love for 
the higher forms of music, while affording an 
opportunity for the more advanced students to 
obtain a hearing. 

I have often thought how many more advan- 
tages are offered for the cultivation of musical 
talent at the present day than was the case when 
I was a boy. Then, in the whole of the United 
Kingdom there were only the two scholarships at 
the Royal Academy of Music, one for a male, the 
other for a female student. 

Now, at all the great musical institutions in this 
country numerous scholarships are open to com- 
petition, so that the words of Gray 

Chill penury repressed their noble rage. 
And froze the genial current of the soul, 

are seldom likely to be applied to the possessor of 
musical talent in this age of advancement. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

CONCLUDING REMARKS 

T HAVE often found it interesting as well as 
-- instructive to carry back my memory to an 
earlier period of my life, and to take note of what 
were then the predominant musical tastes of the 
day, and to contrast them with those of the age 
in which we live. As these ideas are just now 
uppermost in my mind, I will take the oppor- 
tunity, before concluding my reminiscences, of 
saying a few words in reference to the past and 
present state of music in this country. 

Regarding the past, there is no doubt that 
during my younger days the tone of musical feel- 
ing that existed was extremely conservative. There 
was, in fact, a strong prejudice against anything 
in the way of composition that was not the work 
of one of the great classical composers. Bach, 
Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, 
and Mendelssohn were the musical gods we then 
worshipped, whilst a few lesser divinities, such 
as Weber, Spohr, and Sterndale Bennett, were 

allowed a certain amount of veneration. 

326 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 327 

In respect to opera, this musical religion was 
probably less restricted, as it was acknowledged 
that for this form of musical art special qualifica- 
tions were requisite, and that composers who 
might be great in such works as oratorios, sym- 
phonies, and string quartets, were not necessarily 
so in dramatic music. 

Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Auber were 
at that time in the zenith of their popularity, 
whilst Meyerbeer was probably looked upon as the 
ultimate limit to which sensationalism in dramatic 
music could possibly attain. Mozart, of course, 
always pleased, and, strange to say, he has always 
retained the same unique position in public favour 
which his charming methods of dramatic music 
have won for him, and which will doubtless endure 
as long as music itself, proving that " a thing of 
beauty is a joy for ever." 

Although Schumann was well known on the 
Continent before my visit to Leipsic, in England 
we had heard but little about him. I recollect, 
when I was studying at the Royal Academy of 
Music, my fellow-student, the late Henry Baumer, 
saying to me one day, " Have you heard that 
there is a new composer of the name of Schumann, 
who is thought a great deal of in Germany ? " I 
expect very few of us in those days knew anything 
about him. This question was put to me probably 



328 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

about the year 1852, by which time the greater 
number of Schumann's best works would have 
been given to the musical world. No doubt some 
of his compositions had been heard in England, 
but I believe they were not awarded a very warm 
reception by the critics of the day, so they were 
scarcely allowed a fair chance of gaining ground 
with the musical public. Even after my return 
from Germany, where I had learnt to appreciate 
the beauties of this composer, I remember Chorley, 
the critic of the "AthenaBum," saying to me, 
" Schumann's music is not to my taste ; it is too 
obscure and unmeaning. What is good in music 
and art generally, should be clear and intelli- 
gible." 

As for Wagner and Berlioz, it was considered 
then a species of high treason to speak of them as 
composers. They were looked upon as musical 
maniacs. When W. Mapleson first proposed 
introducing "Lohengrin" at the opera of Her 
Majesty's Theatre, the idea was, I understood, 
scouted as being ridiculous. Probably, had he 
persisted in presenting the work to the public, it 
would have been received with a storm of abuse. 
After all, it was better that Wagner of whom it 
might truly be said, "Everything comes to him 
who waits " should bide his time so far as England 
was concerned. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 329 

Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, and Berlioz suc- 
ceeded in the end in breaking down the barrier 
of musical conservatism in England. How this 
was accomplished it would be difficult to define. 
I believe that for a long time the ear of this 
country was not educated up to the tone methods 
of these composers. Probably, had their works 
been introduced earlier, to many, perhaps to the 
majority of listeners, they would have been unin- 
telligible. 

When Berlioz brought forward his compositions 
at the New Philharmonic Concerts in 1852, they 
only created wonderment, and if the audience 
applauded they did so because they admired the 
man as a conductor rather than as a composer. 

The change of attitude on the part of the public 
and the press towards the composers I have men- 
tioned, and others of the advanced school, has 
caused quite a revolution in regard to the canons 
of the art of composition. Formerly a work was 
judged by the standard of form and subject-matter, 
clearness of design, and beauty of melody. Now 
what is principally looked for are eccentricities or 
novelties in harmony, great complication in the 
part- writing, and unexpected effects. In point of 
fact, we in this generation have kicked over the 
traces, and to a great extent demolished the 
theories which the old composers, from the time 



330 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

of Bach to Beethoven, had laboriously built up. 
In doing so, I am of opinion that great musical 
discoveries have been made, not only in writing for 
the orchestra, but in harmony itself. 

When I was a youth, no one would have 
thought it possible to weave such ingenious and 
novel effects of harmony as are to be found in 
Grieg and other modern composers of the advanced 
school. Whether these discoveries will lead to 
others likely to enrich our art is hard to prophesy, 
but I cannot help thinking that there is a limit to 
the combinations possible in harmony, beyond 
which they degenerate into a chaos of unmeaning 
sounds. I also think that there is great danger of 
raising a false standard of excellence by attaching 
too great value to such peculiarities of harmony, 
so that the ear of the musician may become 
almost vitiated by the false stimulus which such 
chords tend to give. There is a risk arising from 
these causes, a risk great enough to lead us to fear 
that music itself in time may cease to be the type 
of beauty it has been hitherto, and which has 
earned for it the title of the "divine art." 

I ought not here to omit referring to a most 
important feature in modern music that is the 
incorporating of national melodies and harmonies 
in such forms of compositions as rhapsodies and 
dances. The predilection which composers in 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 331 

recent times have had for writing in the style of 
the countries which gave them birth has led to the 
production of many interesting works. The most 
noticeable of these are written either in the Hun- 
garian, Norwegian, or Polish methods, whilst our 
own composers have proved how effective a use 
can be made of the Scotch, Irish, or Welsh char- 
acteristics in music. Then the quaint and original 
features of the scales and harmonies of these 
different nationalities have had an undoubted in- 
fluence upon modern music, giving it, in certain 
cases, a special tone- colour. 

But perhaps one of the most striking divergences 
from old to new, in matters concerning composition, 
is noticeable in the increased orchestra so frequently 
employed by composers of the newer school. 
When Berlioz essayed effects produced by com- 
binations of instruments, involving the employment 
of extra timpani, extra trumpets, and other extras 
innumerable, few thought that his example would 
ever be followed by others ; yet the augmenting 
of the old orchestra as we find it in the scores of 
Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Schumann, is now of 
quite common occurrence. I remember when I 
told a friend of mine that my "Bu :i .ding of the 
Ship " was about to be performed for the first time 
in London, after its production at Leeds, he said, 
in his simplicity as regards music and its workings, 



332 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

" Did you write for all the instruments yourself? " 
Of course I replied in the affirmative. " What, 
trombones as well ? " he asked. " Bravo ! " he ex- 
claimed, when he heard I had accomplished this 
feat. But what are trombones nowadays in the 
fortissimo of a modern score ? They are but a 
small element of what might be termed the war 
paint of the newer orchestra. 

It is said of Napoleon I that he often complained 
to Cherubini 1 of the way in which the latter hid 
the voices of the singers in his operas by too 
much noise (as the great general described it) in the 
orchestra. Cherubini, to conciliate the Emperor, 
therefore, on more than one occasion, had all 
the fortes executed pianissimo. What would the 
hero of Marengo have exclaimed, had it been 
possible for him to have heard a modern orchestra 
at full power? I fear the consequences to the 
conductor or composer, perhaps to both, would 
have been little short of banishment from his 
dominions. 

Whether it is the facilities which the increased 
orchestra gives for musical colouring, it is certain 
that composers of the present epoch are constantly 
searching for new effects ; and as subjects of a 
tragic character offer, perhaps, the greatest number 

1 See " Memorials of Cherubini/' Edward Bellasis (New Edition), 
p. 82. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 333 

of opportunities of this nature for tone-colouring, 
we find they are frequently selected for orchestral 
treatment. 

Indeed, for some time past there has been 
amongst composers and musical amateurs a great 
predilection for that which is weird or lugubrious 
in orchestral music. We love, so to say, to grope 
about in musical gloom, and when, now and then, 
we come across some genuine musical phrase we 
feel, in so doing, that we have made quite a 
discovery. 

Perhaps, from the same reason that our ima- 
gination is excited to awe or wonderment by 
some wild and mountainous region seen in the 
gloaming, much of the interest we take in music 
of the newer school may be due to our being 
mystified by the undefined. 

I recollect, one afternoon, at a Crystal Palace 
concert, hearing a composition of a very tragic 
character, illustrating some subject almost blood- 
curdling in its sentiment. I was sitting next to 
Sir George Grove at the time, and at the con- 
clusion of it he turned to me and said : " I do not 
know, John, why it is that we have become so 
serious ; music is not so lively and gay as it used 
to be years ago." Probably this impression which 
Sir George had in his mind was to a great extent 
due to the polyphonic character of so much in 



334 MUSICAL REMINISCENCES & IMPRESSIONS 

modern music of the classical school, and to a 
lack of rhythmical subjects which embody that 
kind of melody that we can carry away with us 
after a first hearing. 

No doubt, many very fine specimens of the 
rhapsodical in music have been the result of this 
tendency among modern composers. Let us not, 
however, regard this phase of musical art as the 
only one worth cherishing or encouraging ; for if we 
do, a great sameness in music will be the result. 

We look for variety in art. However fascinating 
a certain form of composition may be, it is no 
reason why other modes of expression should be 
considered faulty. The polyphonic in music is 
now the order of the day ; but it is a question 
as to whether too much of it does not become 
wearisome. We are apt, in these days, to 
place undue value upon that which is complex in 
music. Should we not rather seek for what is 
beautiful and simple, yet classical withal? This 
is why, I think, that a great orchestral conductor 
is credited to have said : " There is a future for 
Mozart." For Mozart is the type of all that is 
clear and defined in music ; and if there is a future 
for Mozart, why not also for that in art which is 
constructed upon the same clear and simple lines, 
and produces some of the same effect ? It would 
not, however, be consistent for me to conclude my 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 335 

reminiscences with speculations as to the future of 
music ; I will therefore dwell no longer upon this 
theme. After all, composers of the past have 
provided us with so many and varied specimens in 
every form of music, that we should not, in the 
greed for novelty, inadvertently overlook any of 
the treasures of art that have been left us as heir- 
looms for all time. Are there any such art treasures 
that still await discovery, or has the musical anti- 
quarian accomplished all that is humanly possible ? 
In any case, let us continue to revere the great 
masterpieces we possess ; and whilst we should be 
ever ready to welcome with alacrity all that is good 
in the newer school of music, we should not, in our 
desire to avoid old-world prejudice, go to the 
extreme of considering as obsolete, those forms 
and canons of the art upon which the classical 
composers of the past placed so much value, and 
which have been handed down to us as models of 
symmetry and beauty. 



INDEX 



Abt, 291 

Alcock, Dr. Walter, 172 
Anderson, Mrs., 152, 159 
Ashdown & Parry, 148, 159 
Ashdown, Edwin, 148 

Bache, Walter, 39, 277, 324 
Bachoffner, 3 
Barnby, Lady, 213 
Barnby, Muriel, 216, 326 
Barnby, Sir Joseph, 141, 143, 211, 

212, 214, 215-19, 287 
Barnett, Domenico, 39, 56 
Barnett, Emma, 91, 118, 279 
Barnett, John, xiv, 27, 28, 54, 87, 

135, 250, 252, 253, 254 
Barnett, Joseph, 75 
Barnett, Joseph Alfred, xiv, 9, 19 
Barnett, Mrs. John, 39 
Barnett, William, 71 
Barnett, Zaraeh, xiv 
Barton, Marmaduke, 183, 196 
Barton, W. J., 196 
Baumer, Henry, 111, 327 
Baxter, Madame Laura, 125 
Beale, Mr., 13 
Bellassis, Edward, 165, 332 
Benedict, Sir Julius, 86, 107, 145, 

152, 155, 156, 157, 158, 182, 287 
Bennett, Joseph, 105, 307 
Bennett, Sir Sterndale, 1, 7, 66, 

81, 82, 86, 111, 139, 140, 144, 

218, 327 



Berger, Francesco, 68 

Beringer, Oscar, 269 

Berlioz, Hector, 14, 15, 16, 82, 275, 

328, 329, 331 
Bernsdorf, 48 
Best, W. T., 144 
Betjemann, G. H., 307 
Blumenthal, Jacques, 16, 131, 287 
Bottesini, Signer, 302 
Brassey, Lady, 295 
Bridge, Sir Frederick, 89 
Broadwood, Henry Fowler, 31 
Broad wood, John, & Sons, 31 
Brown, Madox, 279 
Bruce, Lord Charles, 186 
Bull, Ole, 67 

Bulow, Von, 46, 141, 142, 271 
Butt, Madame Clara, 281 

Carte, D'Oyley, 131 

Carte, W., 131 

Carter, Hilton, 218 

Chew, Miss, 281 

Chorley, F. H., 70, 328 

Clauss, Wilhelmina, 122 

Cliffe, Frederick, 303 

Collard, Drake, 133 

Conway, Hugh, 137 

Cooper, George, 20, 21 

Costa, Sir Michael, 82, 100, 128 

Cowen, Dr. F. H., 64, 270, 287, 

302, 307 
Cramer, J. B., & Co., 13 



337 



338 



INDEX 



Cramer, John, 46, 256, 268, 269 
Cummings, Dr. W. H., 68, 84, 

112, 113, 219 
Cusins, Sir William, 86, 144, 145, 

214, 215, 287, 310 

D'Albert, Eugene, 175, 292 
Dannreuther, E., 43, 143, 274 
D'Aubert, C., 287 
David, Ferdinand, 45, 47 
Davies, Dr. Walford, 309 
Davison, J. W., 125, 126, 278 
Devrient, Shroeder-, 51 
Dickens, Charles, jun., 283, 284 
Dickens, Henry, K.C., 284 
Dolby, Madame Sainton, 7, 19, 

83 

Dorrell, William, 7 
Dragonetti, Domenico, 135 
Dreyschock, A., 46 
Dupont, A., 46 
Durand, Charles, 9, 10 
Dvorak, Antonin, 269, 303, 304, 

305 

Eggers, A. F., 107 
Elgar, Sir Edward, 309 
Ella, John, 120, 121 
Ernst, Heinrich Wilhelm, 169 
Essipoff, Madame, 310 

Ferri, Signer, 195 
Foli, Signer, 99, 100 
Folkestone, Countess, 287 
Formes, Herr Carl, 19, 125, 126, 

127 

Fox, Lady, 11 
Fox, Samson, 184 
Fox, Sir Charles, 11 
Francillon, Mrs. Robert, 39, 40, 

87 
Freake, Sir Charles, 171 



Gadsby, H., 145 

Ganz, W., 14, 16, 167, 168, 287 

Gardener, Charles, 68 

German, Edward, 309 

Gilbert, W. S., 308 

Goddard, Arabella, 142 

Goffrie, Charles, 122 

Goldschmidt, Madame (Jenny 
Lind), 67, 183, 273, 274 

Goldschmidt, Otto, 46, 273 

Goss, Sir John, 20, 144 

Gounod, Ch., 86, 303, 304, 305 

Grieg, E., 41, 303, 305, 330 

Grove, Sir George, 18, 178, 183, 
184, 253, 312, 313, 314, 315, 
317, 318, 319, 322, 324, 333 

Gurkhaus, Herr (Kistuer's), 51 

Haddock, Edgar, 296 

Halle, Sit Charles, 148, 175, 176, 

287 

Harper, Thomas, 164 
Hauptmann, Dr. Moritz, 32, 33, 

36, 43, 109, 291 
Henschell, Georg, 284, 294 
Herbert, Mr., 20 
Killer, Ferdinand, 100, 101, 

211 
Hill, Weist, 193, 201, 202, 203, 

204, 211, 214, 303 
Horneman, E., 37, 38 
Hoyte, Dr. W. S., 145 
Hudson, Cornelius, xv 
Hudson, Mrs., 4 
Hudson, Priscilla, xvi 
Hudson, William, xv, xvi 
Hueffer, Dr. Francis, 278, 279, 

307 
Hutchings & Romer, 90 

Jaell, Alfred, 46, 168 
Jansa, Herr, 122, 123, 124 



INDEX 



339 



Jerrold, Douglas, 27, 28 
Joachim, Dr. J., 47 

Krause, Emil, 40, 41 
Kuhe, W., 104, 105, 287 

Lazarus, Henry, 164 

Lehmeyer, Herr, 149 

Lemon, Mark, 90 

Leslie, Henry, 129, 130, 131, 287 

Li Calsi, Signor, 209 

Lincoln, Henry, 224 

Lindley, Robert, 135, 136 

Liszt, Franz, 49, 50, 276-8, 284, 

302 

Littleton, H., 278 
Lloyd, Edward, 89, 105, 294, 303 
Lohr, H., 143 

Longfellow, Henry W., 293 
Louis, Madame St. Viard, 194 
Lucas, Charles, 7 
Lucas, Stanley (the late), 7, 276, 

277 
Lyall, Charles, 307 

Maas, Joseph, 294 
MacChean, 289 
Macfarren, Lady, 179 
Macfarren, Sir George, 7, 144, 

178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 306 
Macfarren, Walter, 68 
Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, 302, 

307 

Maltby, Mrs., xv 
Manns, Sir August, 18, 73, 102, 

287, 303, 322 
Mapleson, W., 328 
Marmontel, 46 
Mason, Col., 74 
Mathews, W., 131, 132, 133 
McCunn, Hamish, 303 
Mellon, Alfred, 64, 300 



Meyerbeer, xiv, 269, 327 
Molique, Bernard, 70, 71 
Morgan, R. Orlando, 196 
Moscheles, Felix, 282 
Moscheles, Ignaz, 36, 41, 42, 

152, 282 

Moscheles, Madame Ignaz, 284, 

285 
Mount, George, 134 

Neate, Charles, 66 

Neruda, Madame Norman- (Lady 

Halle), 124, 301 
Norbury, George, 112, 271 
Norbury, John, 112 
Novello & Co., 90, 144, 279, 306 
Novello, Clara, 14, 19 

O'Leary, Arthur, 187 

Pachmann, Herr, 155 
Paderewski, 91 
Palmer, Miss Bessie, 69 
Parepa-Rosa, 307 
Parratt, Sir Walter, 252 
Parry, Sir Hubert, 305, 324 
Patey, Madame, 83, 99, 102, 138, 

294, 303 

Paton, Noel, 74, 75, 93 
Patti, Madame Adelina, 107 
Patti, Madame Carlotta, 67 
Pauer, Ernest, 16, 46, 47, 152, 

153, 175 

Paxton, Sir Joseph, 11 
Payne, Arthur (of Leipsic), 40 
Pemberton, Max, 282 
Peyton, Richard, 86, 92, 99 
Piatti, Signor, 135, 301, 302 
Plaidy, Louis, 35, 36, 41, 42, 49, 

264 

Potter, Cipriani, 6 
Pratten, R. S. (the flautist), 164 



340 



INDEX 



Prentice, Ridley, 209 

Prout, Professor Ebenezer, 143 

Prudent, Emile, 168 

Radcliffe, Mr., 133 
Randegger, Albert, 287, 299 
Reed, German, 19 
Reeves, Sims, 14, 19, 67, 83, 84, 

112, 114 

Reinecke, Carl, 46 
Richter, E. F., 43, 44 
Richter, Hans, 274 
Rietz, Julius, 35, 36, 37, 38, 62, 

111, 118, 119, 120 
Rigby, Vernon, 99, 102 
Riseley, George, 189 
Roche, Mrs., 282 
Rockstro, W. S., 317, 318 
Rogers, Mrs. Henry, 39, 40, 87 
Romer, Frank, 90 
Rosa, Carl, 39, 40, 270, 286, 287, 

307, 324 
Rubinstein, 49 
Rubinstein, Anton, 270, 271 
Rudersdorff, Madame, 69, 75 
Rudorff, Ernst, 154 
Russell, Henry, 28 

Sainton, Prospero, 116, 117 
Saint-Saens, 279 
Salaman, Charles, 306 
Santley, Charles, 83, 85, 102, 126, 

287, 303, 307 

Schleinitz, Herr Director, 51, 63 
Schroder-Devrient, 51 
Schumann, Madame, 47, 67 
Sharpe, Herbert, 172 
Sherrington, Madame Lemmens-, 

102, 105, 280 
Silas, E., 14, 303 
Sivori, Erneste, 168 
Sloper, Lindsay, 152, 168, 169 



Smart, Henry, 151 
Smith, Charles P., 201, 202, 218 
Smith, Mrs. Charles P., 203 
Smith, Townshend, 116, 117 
Somervell, Dr. Arthur, 309 
Spohr, Louis, 15, 16, 116, 326 
Staiuer, Sir John, 176, 287 
Stanford, Sir Charles, 64, 302, 

307 

Staudigl, 14 
Sterling, Madame Antoinette, 

105 

Stevens, Charles, 68 
Stockley, W., 81, 99 
Straus, Ludwig, 45, 46, 108 
Strickland, W., 117 
Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 38, 40, 100, 

143, 144, 171, 175, 176, 178, 

273, 274, 278, 286, 287, 300, 

308, 316, 324 
Sweeting, Dr., 172 

Taylor, Coleridge, 309 

Taylor, Franklin, 39, 43, 101, 145, 

286 

Tenniel, Sir John, xv 
Thackeray, Makepeace, 28 
Thalberg, 143, 170, 210 
Thomas, Goring, 306 
Thomas, John, 188, 239 
Thomas, Lewis, 88, 112, 113 
Thomas, W. H., 145 
Thunder, Captain, 290 
Titiens, Mile., 83, 85, 88, 99, 112, 

116, 162 

Toms, Miss Gwendoline, 281 
Trebelli, Madame, 112, 113 
Tschaikowsky, 270 
Twist, Miss Monimia, 172 

Vanzini, Madame, 102 
Varley, John, xv 



INDEX 



341 



Varley, William, xv, 222 
Vieurtemps, Henri, 169 
Visetti, Alfred, 103 
Vogel, Miss Jetta, 297 

Wagner, Richard, 274,275-8,328, 

329 

Wallace, Vincent, 67 
Walthew, Richard, 306 
Watson, George, 184, 213 



Watson, William, 17, 69 
Weiss, W. H., 19, 69 
Wieniawski, Henri, 169 
Williams, Miss Anna, 294, 303 
Wingham, Thomas, 210 
Wood, Dr. Charles, 309 
Wood, J. Henry, 64 
Wylde, Dr., 3, 4, 5, 11, 13, 17, 

63, 67, 160, 161, 162, 167 
Wylde, Mrs. Henry, 281 



PLYMOUTH 

WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. 
PRINTERS 



This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 



University of California 

SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 

Return this material to the library 

from which it was borrowed. 




1988 

NON-R 
lUi 






UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA 

LOS ANGELJBitt 
LIBRARY 



